shashank pawar The story-line of movie focus beautifully on life aspects of common man who finds way to survive in urban life. Good direction and very artistically performed characters all round. Real life aspects are nicely covered with human values and touch of behavioral approach towards broken workers with no jobs. This is inspiring to any young or mid age personal who finds difficult to keep up in work and personal life when you are broke. The story-line of movie focus beautifully on life aspects of common man who finds way to survive in urban life. Good direction and very artistically performed characters all round. Real life aspects are nicely covered with human values and touch of behavioral approach towards broken workers with no jobs. This is inspiring to any young or mid age personal who finds difficult to keep up in work and personal life when you are broke.

lastliberal It is not hard to say a movie is great when it has won 37 awards, and has another 18 nominations. The greatness of this movie is hardly disputed.But will you like it? Sadly, most will not because it is a depressing subject. You certainly don't go looking for entertainment in a movie about unemployment.That's too bad, because you will miss an outstanding performance by Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Before Night Falls, Mar adentro), and a great story that will certainly touch the lives of everyone who sees it.Santa (Bardem) and his pals Jose (Luis Tosar) and Lino (José Ángel Egido) congregate in a makeshift bar run by another friend, Rico (Joaquín Climent). Here they philosophize and console one another after they all have been laid off from a shipyard that closed.We follow them as their marriages become strained or fall apart. One commits suicide and another dies his hair and borrows his son's clothing in an attempt to compete with men half his age. Alcohol is consumed in copious amounts to dull the pain that, because of being unemployed, they are no longer men.This is not just a Spanish dilemma, it is also played out right here in America as companies move offshore. One could also consider this film highly appropriate as we are soon to decide if our country continues in this direction.Minor characters interact with the friends, but it is their closeness that is the central focus. Like Siamese twins, if one falls, they will all fall.

ektorxxi This is one of the best film I've ever seen. People who has lived this kind of problem (no job and no hope to get it) will thank Fernando Leon de Aranoa for making this realistic portrait of this hard situation. I don't think that just Ken Loach can do this kind of social movies (even if I like him very much too). Spanish cinema, less known than British, has always reflected our social problems and didn't need to copy foreigners directors. And if we talk about influences I prefer to mention the Italian neorealism long time ago. If you liked this movie you will also love a french movie called "Ressources humaines" not as known as Ken Loach's but excellent too. Thanks to Fernando Leon.

dutchtom1 Quentin Crisp once stated that when things are shown too beautifully, one is a romantic. When things are show unbearably grim, they are realistic. And when something gets the ironic treatment, they're spot on. Unfortunately for Leon de Aranoa, he falls into the second catagory. This director has obviously tried too hard to make a Spanish "Ken Loach" type movie, without being able to capture the comedy, and warmth between the characters, that elevate Loach movies from merely being 'depressing'. Los Lunes al Sol, is just that, only depressing. Things are unrealistically grim. The characters ultimate moments of misery all reach a climax at the same point, and if the glum story isn't enough, Aranoa washes the tale over with a visually grey and grimy colour palette. The films was ridiculously over-rated at the Goyas. A movie that shows empathy for the weaker citizens in society, in this case unemployed harbour workers, does not automatically make for a good movie, even though I would be the first to sympathize with the fates of these people. This movie only manages to make me grow disinterested in their fate. In 21st century Spain, unemployed people do not live like beggars, and the public transport ferries have decent restrooms, and it's hard to come across a bar with so few punters and such little happiness to be encountered in it. Leon de Aranoa obviously doesn't have a clue about working class Spain, and does it no favours. Pretentious is the only conclusion I can draw. The scene where the men watch a football match for free, has been directly copied from a film which deals much more 'realistically' with the subject of the 'poverty' trap, namely "Purely Belter," which is afar more engaging, humorous, and yet sad.