Dark Blue Almost Black

Dark Blue Almost Black
Theatrical release poster
SpanishAzuloscurocasinegro
Directed byDaniel Sánchez Arévalo
Screenplay byDaniel Sánchez Arévalo
Produced byJosé Antonio Félez
Starring
CinematographyJuan Carlos Gómez
Edited byNacho Ruiz Capillas
Music byPascal Gaigne
Production
company
Tesela PC
Distributed byAlta Classics
Release dates
  • 24 March 2006 (2006-03-24) (Málaga)
  • 31 March 2006 (2006-03-31) (Spain)
Running time
106 minutes
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish

Dark Blue Almost Black (Spanish: Azuloscurocasinegro) is a 2006 Spanish drama film written and directed by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo (in his debut feature). It stars Quim Gutiérrez alongside Marta Etura, Antonio de la Torre, Héctor Colomé, Raúl Arévalo, and Eva Pallarés.

The film premiered at the 9th Málaga Film Festival ahead of its 31 March 2006 theatrical release in Spain by Alta Classics.

Plot

Jorge is a young man whose plans for the future are put on hold when his father has a stroke. For seven years, he diligently nurses his father and works as a janitor while studying part-time to get a business degree.

When Natalia, his childhood crush, returns from a stint studying abroad, Jorge begins to yearn for something better. He is desperate to find a new and better job, but finds that no one will hire him because he has experience only as a janitor.

Antonio, Jorge's older brother, soon to be released from jail, is an opportunist who has never gotten along with their father. In prison, at a theater workshop, Antonio meets Paula, a beautiful young woman in jail on drug charges. Paula has a problem because she flirted with another inmate's boyfriend. Violently harassed in jail, she wants to get pregnant in order to be moved out of harm's way into the jail's maternity ward. Antonio initially just wants to have sex with her, but soon he falls in love with Paula. He wants to help her to get pregnant, but he discovers that he is sterile.

Everything changes when Antonio gets out of prison. He plays on Jorge's good nature to get him to step in during conjugal visits and help impregnate his jailbird girlfriend, Paula. Jorge reluctantly agrees, even though it might get in the way of his long-term on-off relationship with Natalia. Meanwhile, Jorge's best friend Israel secretly photographs men visiting an erotic masseur. He finds out that his father is one of the clients and thinks that he is gay. Irritated with his father's hypocrisy, Israel initially starts anonymously blackmailing him. However, he later begins to question his own sexuality when he dares to visit the erotic masseur, following in his father's footsteps.

Jorge's relationship with Natalia becomes difficult after she tries to get him a job where she works but he is only offered a position as a janitor. Then Antonio finds out that their father has an undisclosed bank account full of money.

Jorge makes regular "face-to-face" visits to the women's prison to carry out his brother's wishes and, inevitably, begins to fall for Paula. Gradually, they develop an unusual relationship. She gets pregnant and through her, Jorge learns to stop feeling responsible for everything and finally confront his own wishes, ignoring what the world expects of him. He breaks his relationship with Natalia and decides to wait for Paula's release. The relationship of the two brothers survives Jorge's emotional involvement. Antonio fails to retrieve the money his father had in a secret bank account.

Israel confronts both of his parents and his own sexual identity, finally achieving some degree of peace. Jorge and Paula have a baby daughter. He moves from the building where he has worked and lived for so many years, finding a new job as a janitor. When Jorge thinks of escaping his dead-end life, he dreams of a suit, which is dark blue, almost black. At the end, he takes Israel's car, breaks the store window and grabs the dark blue suit.

Cast

Production

Sánchez Arévalo developed the story from his short film Física II.[2] The film was produced by Tesela PC and it had the participation of TVE and Canal+.[3]

Release

The film was presented at the 9th Málaga Film Festival on 24 March 2006.[4] Distributed by Alta Classics,[3] it was released in Spanish theatres on 31 March 2006.[5] The film's international festival run included selections for screenings at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival (Venice Days),[5] 2006 Toronto International Film Festival ('Discovery' section),[6] and the 2006 AFI Fest ('Latin Cinema Series').[7] Sogepaq International handled international sales.[8][9] The film was released theatrically in the United States in October 2007 by Strand Releasing.[1]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 70% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[10]

Casimiro Torreiro of El País appreciated how the directorial debut feature was "promising" and displayed "excellent narrative flow, [and] commitment".[11]

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times assessed that Sánchez Arévalo portrayed "repressed longing with been-there, done-that assurance".[1]

Jonathan Holland of Variety declared the film "an assured and captivating drama that combines grit and grace into a distinctive, character-based whole".[3]

Awards

Year Award CategoryNominee(s) ResultRef.
2006
 63rd Venice International Film FestivalLabel Europa Cinemas AwardWon[12]
UAAR AwardWon
2007
 21st Goya AwardsBest New DirectorDaniel Sánchez ArévaloWon[13][14]
Best Original ScreenplayDaniel Sánchez ArévaloNominated
Best ActressMarta EturaNominated
Best Supporting ActorAntonio de la TorreWon
Best New ActorQuim GutiérrezWon
Best Original SongAlba Gárate for "Imaginarte"Nominated
16th Actors and Actresses Union AwardsBest Film Actress in a Leading RoleMarta EturaNominated[15][16]
Best Film Actor in a Secondary RoleAntonio de la TorreWon
Hector ColoméNominated
Best Film Actress in a Minor RoleAna WagenerNominated
Best New ActorRaúl ArévaloWon
Quim GutiérrezNominated

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Catsoulis, Jeannette (19 October 2007). "Trapped by Circumstance". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "'AzulOscuroCasiNegro', el premiado debut de Daniel Sánchez Arévalo". Diez Minutos. 6 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Holland, Jonathan (11 April 2006). "Darkbluealmostblack". Variety.
  4. ↑ "'Azul oscuro casi negro' y 'Remake' completan la sección oficial del festival de Málaga". El País.
  5. 1 2 "Seleccionadas dos películas españolas para participaren la Mostra". Córdoba. Prensa Ibérica. 27 July 2006.
  6. ↑ Tillson, Tamsen; McClintock, Pamela (22 August 2006). "'Good Year' on Toronto's calendar. Fest unveils lineup". Variety.
  7. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (October 2006). "AFI festival lineup is loaded 'Empire,' 'Fountain' to shine up fest". Variety.
  8. ↑ Pinto, Vitor (5 September 2006). "DarkBlueAlmostBlack: All shades of life". Cineuropa.
  9. ↑ "'Dark Blue' floats to the top at Venice". Variety. 8 September 2006.
  10. ↑ "Dark Blue Almost Black". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
  11. ↑ Torreiro, Casimiro (31 March 2006). "A golpes con la vida". El País.
  12. ↑ "'AzulOscuroCasiNegro', del director español Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, recibe dos premios en Venecia". El Mundo. 9 September 2006.
  13. ↑ Viaje al cine español. 25 años de los Premios Goya (PDF), Lunwerg, 2011, pp. 291–292, ISBN 978-84-9785-791-8
  14. ↑ Pérez, Carmen (24 July 2007). "Lantana publica su primer disco tras el éxito de 'AzulOscuroCasiNegro'". Diario Sur. Grupo Vocento.
  15. ↑ "'Volver' y 'Así es (si así os parece)', las favoritas a los premios Unión de Actores". El Mundo. 5 January 2007.
  16. ↑ "La Unión de Actores premia `Volver´, `El método Grönholm´ y `Mujeres´". La Opinión de La Coruña. 13 February 2007.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.