‘Stories not to tell’: Absurdly normal

A pandemic, a volcano, a war and an economic crisis later, Cesc Gay arrives in theaters to make us forget the bad with ‘Stories not to tell’. This ensemble film -with the largest cast of Spanish actors- tells five short stories of those stories that make us feel ashamed and that we hide from everyone. Even who we love the most. Anna Castillo, Javier Rey and Chino Darín, on one side, Antonio de la Torre, María León and Àlex Brendemühl on the other. Nora Navas, Maribel Verdú and Alexandra Jiménez, Javier Cámara, Jose Coronado and Alejandra Onieva and, finally, Quim Gutiérrez, Verónica Echegui and Brays Efe.

With this sea of ​​actors the director has woven an easy, light and pleasant film. One to sit in the chair with and do something as simple as have fun. Don’t think, don’t look at your cell phone (Oh!), and watch, laugh sometimes and forget what happens across the room. This so simple was previously a requirement for the seventh art. Now it has almost become a luxury. Fiction has evolved into a kind of tragic drama, to a depth taken to the extreme, in which the stories that follow are the ones that generate the most anguish. But really, what we need sometimes is a little comedy. Something easy that doesn’t require so much effort. Which makes you leave the cinema satisfied.

Gay walked around his cinema until he arrived just a humorous tone, no big frills. From ‘Truman’ -where he was already looking for points of humor in the saddest ones- up to now, the director has launched himself with ‘Sentimental’ and with the theatre. It is there, perhaps, where he dared to leave the handkerchiefs.

The glue of shame

Exploration of the characters makes them aware of the absurd situations they live. The film is characterized by embarrassment and pathos. The thousand moments in which we don’t want to be present but we have to be, even though we are aware that we are making fun of ourselves. That embarrassment, that proximity to everyday life, that “the earth swallows me” that we have all experienced -in the past and in the present- is the union, the nexus, the latemotive of the film. What gives meaning to all stories.

A love triangle, a breakup, a one night stand, a truth in a marriage or a failure at work are the five topics, the five situations as usual as absurdly ridiculous who drive the film.

Still, humor happens. It’s love. And friendship. The most normal and calm life happens. Disappointments, surprises and last minute changes. And all in an unbeatable setting, with Barcelona in the background, normal apartments, normal bars and normal restaurants. It all happens in a park, a tennis court or a supermarket. Everything revolves around everyday life. That’s why Stories Don’t Tell works, because it tells real situations that happen to real people.

And obviously there are details, gestures and looks that don’t convince. There are also actors for whom humor comes more or less easily. That ability to be funny without meaning to, that fun in gestures. But even the failures are outweighed by the good vibes that the film conveys. It is, surely, one of those who will appear on television in a few years, on a Saturday night without programmes, e It will be a record audience because it will become the best option of the weekend.

A resounding yes to stories that bring joy without fuss. To ‘Barcelona, ​​​​summer night’, to ‘Valentine’s Stories’, ‘New Year’s Eve’ or ‘What Happens to Men?’. yes sensational to everything that makes the difficult easy.

‘Stories Not to Be Told’ opens in theaters November 25.

Note: 9

The best: The simplicity of humour. How pathetic the human being is. José Coronado.

Worse: The exaggeration to get the humor (it’s not necessary).