Las razones de mis amigos

......... says the old saying in English; however, this Spanish film more or less says the same. What price friendship? The answer to that is round about 0% interest, because instead of a bank loan, friends help out the would-be entrepreneur, who, surprise, drowns in difficulties, dragging his friends' marriages down with him. The film explains this well, but errs in becoming a little too much like a soap-opera, not only in its approach, but also in its interpretation by the actors and director. Even the occasional music lends to this atmosphere. Lack of chemistry between some of the couples also adds to some of the negative points of this film, precisely between Marta and Santiago (Marta Belaustegui and Joel Joan), rescued a little by Lola Dueñas as Ainhoa. The film does not come anywhere near producing any potential from Belaustegui.

After some rather irregular productions, such as `Malena es un Nombre de Tango' (1996) (qv) which is a rather interesting film, and `Territorio Comanche' (1997) (qv) which was a disastrous adaptation of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's book of the same name, Gerardo Herrero with `Las Razones de Mi Amigo' seems to hit somewhere in the middle – neither very interesting nor a disaster. However this film does lean somewhat in the direction of `Sé Quién Eres' (2000) for which Herrero was a producer, which, at best, is a yawnful flop. With Herrero as producer, I can recommend `El Coronel no Tiene Quién le Escriba' (1999) (qv), a visual poem, absolutely delightful, among my favourite half dozen or so Spanish-language films of all time.

Apart from the fact that some of the actors look very Spanish, especially the beautiful Marta Belaustegui, and you see scenes of Madrid – between so many restaurants and bar terraces – you might just be watching any other US TV film of very rigid formulas and limited perspectives. However, as so often happens in healthy soap-operas, things jerk and struggle along to an ending which might be convincing to some, but might not be to many. An easy 100 minutes of your time so as to keep you lightly occupied: do not expect more and perhaps you might even be fulfilled.

I was not.

Gerardo Herrero is among the riskiest spanish cinema producer in the last years, who in addition has insisted in getting his own career as director, though so far much less lucky. "Las razones de mis amigos" is his last one as a director, and the best one, with no doubt. With screenplay from the more and more prestigious scripter Ángeles González-Sinde ("La Buena estrella o Segunda Piel"), adapted from the Belén Gopegui's novel "La conquista del aire", "Las razones de mis amigos" tell us the economic and social mature (not so much personal) path of three friends of around thirty years old, and the progressive y painful adaptation of their way of thinking and their love relationships to the new circumstances. As in "Malena es un nombre de tango" o "Territorio comanche", and despite the new scripter, Gerardo Herrero tells us back a fiction story with documental style, that is, without almost dramatic suspense, with no central element on which the rest of little stories the whole story is composed of is based on, which gives the story much credibility (As the life is), but none of dramatic suspense at all. It would be interesting to know whether the director do it on purpose or it is just a fault which he cannot avoid. "Las razones de mis amigos", nevertheless, is pure movie of characters and dialogs, and both of them are excellent (except the dialogs in the central part, which become a bit repetitive), and that is what is definitely different to their previous films. There is a respectful progression to the features of all characters, who provides through their intelligent conversations not more than necessary information for the spectators to be able to understand what is happening between them without telling us directly: that is, how they are approaching more and more to the social model whose rebuff was originally the strongest link between them.

An absolutely brilliant final sequence, with false happy end included, gets to make up the trend towards academicism of the rest of the film.

Gerardo Herrero is among the riskiest spanish cinema producer in the last years, who in addition has insisted in getting his own career as director, though so far much less lucky. "Las razones de mis amigos" is his last one as a director, and the best one, with no doubt. With screenplay from the more and more prestigious scripter Ángeles González-Sinde ("La Buena estrella o Segunda Piel"), adapted from the Belén Gopegui's novel "La conquista del aire", "Las razones de mis amigos" tell us the economic and social mature (not so much personal) path of three friends of around thirty years old, and the progressive y painful adaptation of their way of thinking and their love relationships to the new circumstances. As in "Malena es un nombre de tango" o "Territorio comanche", and despite the new scripter, Gerardo Herrero tell us back a fiction story with documental style, that is, without almost dramatic suspense, with no central element on which the rest of little stories the whole story is composed of is based on, which gives the story much credibility (As the life is), but none of dramatic suspense at all. It would be interesting to know whether the director do it on purpose or it is just a fault which he cannot avoid. "Las razones de mis amigos", nevertheless, is pure movie of characters and dialogs, and both of them are excellent (except the dialogs in the central part, which become a bit repetitive), and that is what is definitely different to their previous films. There is a respectful progression to the features of all characters, who provides through their intelligent conversations not more than necessary information for the spectators to be able to understand what is happening between them without telling us directly: that is, how they are approaching more and more to the social model whose rebuff was originally the strongest link between them.

An absolutelly brilliant final sequence, with false happy end included, gets to make up the trend towards to academicism of the rest of the film.