‘La vida padre’: Gastronomic and acting duel

Regardless of the many roles she plays, and more than eighty have now passed, Karra Elejalde will always be remembered (much to her chagrin) for playing Koldo, that purebred Basque father who won everyone’s hearts in the blockbuster film. “Eight Basque surnames” and its retinue, “Eight Catalan surnames”. He plays another Basque father in his new movie, ‘La vida padre’, where he plays Juan Inchausti, a family chef whose restaurant is one of the leading exponents of the country’s catering. However, one night when the Athletic team, led by Javier Clemente, visits him, a misfortune occurs that causes him to jump into the nearest estuary to cease to exist.

With this premise begins the new film by Joaquín Mazón, director who, after making his debut in famous series such as ‘Con el culo al aire’ or ‘Allí bajo’, has moved on to feature film with ‘Cuerpo de elite’ and its subsequent adaptation to a television series. After a filmography mainly on commission, The Madrid director sees a sort of second chance between a father and a son on the big screen. Thirty years after the disappearance of his father in the estuary, Mikel Inchausti (Enric Auquer), meets him by chance at a time when he is a renowned chef specializing in postmodern cuisine. But something has changed: his father is still stuck in the 90s.

Soon, ‘La vida padre’ takes his greatest virtue for a walk: the wonderful and hilarious duo that makes up Elejalde and Auquer as parent and firstborn. The alchemy they emanate is based on an ingenious script that perhaps lacks more elaborate lines that don’t entirely depend on the good work of the cast. Both actors are the basis and the engine of the film, but they are not badly accompanied.

Learn about Korsakoff’s syndrome

By involving the main duo, we have Lander Otaola, Maribel Salas, Gorka Aguinagalde, Yanet Sierra and, the third discordant protagonist, Megan Montaner, who plays Nagore, a doctor who will cure Juan’s amnesia and act as a hook for the disagreements between father and son. Mazón’s film decides not to go into too many gardens regarding the disease that Elejalde’s character accuses: Korsakoff’s syndrome.

Nagore stands out as a fundamental character not only because he builds bridges between Juan and Mikel, but also because he takes care of the field of health (mental and physical) and its correct verbalization, not letting Mikel erase the father of “crazy” , but explaining and divulging what it really consists of. The perennial amnesia of the syndrome causes in Juan Inchausti an alteration of the memory that serves Mazón to dislodge his character in a current situation that confuses and martyrs him, thus building a humor seen previously based on the comparison between what was before and what is now.

clash of styles

‘The life of the father’ it is based on comparisons: the kitchen, Bilbao as a city or even the demons. Starting from the central axis, gastronomy, Mikel represents modern cuisine, with its deconstructions and spherifications, which clashes with the traditional cuisine that Juan practiced, that of a lifetime, that of every good grandmother. However, the script turns in such a way (unsurprisingly) which means that, in the same way that modern cuisine drinks from traditional to keep advancing and expanding, Mikel needs her dad to cook her secret cream (which she has forgotten). which will give him the third Michelin star, drawing a captivating and carefree narrative parallelism. Furthermore, Bilbao as a city is another character. The Bilbao of the 90s, dirty, dark and industrial, undergoes a restyling to present a much more current, bright and optimistic one. The setting captured by Mazón and his team offers a suitable backdrop for the struggle of eras and personalities. Even jokes about nationalism, as it is played with jokes about Basques and Catalans, which adds an extra stone to this clash of styles.

‘The father of life’, therefore, he intends nothing more than to amuse and entertain in a light comedy without too much substance. The ending, a bit abrupt and without too many meanings, completes a remarkable work in approach but irregular in development, which leaves two fantastic actors to their fate.

Note: 6

The best: The comic tandem of Karra Elejalde and Enric Auquer.

Worse: Some jokes are very popular and leave no residue.