Los lunes al sol

Fernando León de Aranoa's third feature, that may mark his international breakthrough, is a harsh yet tender parable with natural, occasionally laconic dialogues and fine acting. Five unemployed dockers in the Spanish city of Vigo wrestle with their dissatisfying existence and seek ways of killing time, which passes so slowly. Santa (Spanish sex symbol Javier Bardem: balding, with excess pounds and a large beard) has managed to retain his sense of humour in spite of everything. However his best friend José sees his self-assurance decline and his marital problems grow. He and his wife Ana, who works in a tuna factory and every evening tries to camouflage the smell of fish with perfume, gradually grow apart. The Russian Sergei flees into a fantasy world and the eldest of the group, Amador, drinks too much. The nervous Lino is the only one who continues to apply for jobs, desperately and fruitlessly. Disillusioned and bored, the men hang around in the street or in the bar of their former colleague Rico.Cameraman Alfredo Mayo provides a modest outline of the decaying post-industrial landscape. In the grey light, the sun only occasionally shows through. This bitter-sweet comedy won the Golden Shell during the San Sebastian Film Festival and was chosen instead of the predicted Hable con ella as the Spanish submission for the Oscars.