En la Ciudad (In the City) is a Spanish language film revolving around the troubled lives of a group of friends. Tomas is in a relationship with his student, 16-year-old Ana. Irene is hiding her pregnancy from her husband Manu. Sara is having an affair behind the back of her husband Mario, who also has an affair with Cristina. Sofia is in a relationship with Frenchman Eric, but breaks it off when she discovers he's married, hooks up with philosophy teacher Andres, but eventually returns to Eric.
There are just too many characters, they're not very interesting and neither are there problems. I've seen this film twice already and I'm still not sure about what the characters' relationships are with each other.
One problem with the film is that because of the sheer number of characters, the filmmakers compress events and leave out vital continuity, forcing the audience to infer as to what exactly is going on. For example, at one point, Irene and a female friend talk as if they've had an affair but we can only infer that they did, we're not exactly sure because the director did not include a scene showing them actually hooking up.
It also fails to really resolve anything, so the audience is ultimately left unsatisfied, particularly in the film's last scene, in which the characters all gather together to celebrate Irene's birthday.
The film is watchable enough and well-acted, but ultimately does not add up to very much.
There are just too many characters, they're not very interesting and neither are there problems. I've seen this film twice already and I'm still not sure about what the characters' relationships are with each other.
One problem with the film is that because of the sheer number of characters, the filmmakers compress events and leave out vital continuity, forcing the audience to infer as to what exactly is going on. For example, at one point, Irene and a female friend talk as if they've had an affair but we can only infer that they did, we're not exactly sure because the director did not include a scene showing them actually hooking up.
It also fails to really resolve anything, so the audience is ultimately left unsatisfied, particularly in the film's last scene, in which the characters all gather together to celebrate Irene's birthday.
The film is watchable enough and well-acted, but ultimately does not add up to very much.