Sevilla Babel

Spain, 2007
Director: Jesús Ponce
Cast: Ivan Massagué, Mercedes Hoyos, Pilar Crespo, Ana Cuesta

This week we could see the release of Déjate caer (Folop down), the third film of Jesús Ponce. Besides being the first person from Seville in the official section of the Festival, the film has been included in the homage to the actors from Andalusia, trying to make visible a new cinematographic wave which is taking place in Andalusia. The tickets were sold out and, between the invited people and the audience, the hall of the theatre Lope de Vega and its blue carpet were more than crowded. Since half an hour before, the actors were arriving and were taken photographs.
The film has an easy plot, almost like a tale. It tells the story of three 30-year-old friends who spend their time sitting in a bench and have monotonous habits: drinking bear and eating cakes every days. Everything seems to be bound to be eternal until Roberto Carlos, one of them, begins to see Sunci. This is what causes a change in the lives of all them, breaking the halve-hearted balance of their lives. At that point they begin to think seriously about the future that is waiting for them in that bench.
The film was shot with few resources. As the director says, it is not more than the story of three boys who “can be found in every capital of the world”. The most pleasant thing is maybe the identification that many members of the audience may feel with the characters. With a comic tone, getting the advantages of the Andalusian dialect and full of common characters who can be found in every street of Seville, the story is, however, bittersweet, almost bitter sometimes, the story of people without a place in the life and have to make an effort to find it.

Sara Domínguez Martín
Translated by Antonio Martínez Pérez