Las horas del dia

Murderers and serial killers are often the most ordinary of people, that much is repeatedly apparent from the newspaper. Jaime Rosales’ feature début was widely praised for the realistic way he shows the life of such an ordinary man. Abel (played by an impressive Brendemuhl) lives with his mother in a town near Barcelona. His whole life revolves around his clothes shop, his girlfriend’s bed and the local cafés. Every day he has the same problems, he sees the same faces, hears the same conversations. Here and there are minor conflicts about money or love -and above all about Abel’s attempts to avoid talking about the problems resulting from lack of this money or that love. With fascinating precision, Las horas del dia observes the boring life of Abel. Nothing changes with that boredom when one day, for no apparent reason, he kills a taxi driver (not the only reference to Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing). The difficult, almost clumsy murder is depicted in the same matter-of-fact way as the rest of Abel’s everyday routine actions. Rosales does not provide any psychological background, no glimpse into the brain of the murderer, no catharsis and there is no thrilling police investigation. Instead, he stares through the lens of his camera at a stunning banality.