Ander (Ander)
About Film
Session Times
Tuesday 6 April 8:40pm
REVIEWS
Basque Cinema but, above all, a magnificent film. The Brokeback Mountain of the Basque Country, as a loose summary. If the plot reminds us a lot of Ang Lee, Caston’s style is the antithesis : fix, austere, rustic and honest shots; an editing which breeds and does not choke, filmed without the minimum artificiality and without the need to make it "pretty".
The general style is a reminiscent of Ford. A beautiful, powerful and harsh film. Ander is an excellent film. It is a mixture of proof, formal simplicity, human complexity, roughness and subtlety that remind us of great films like the ones made by Ford or Straub.Ander is like a Fassbinders’s stage filmed by Ozu’s calm and benevolent manner. Yes, a big and beautiful film.
LES INROCKUPTIBLES
Serge Kaganski
This rustic romance from Spain's northern fringes owes a lot more to quiet American indies like ‘The Station Agent’ than to Ang Lee’s taboo-breaking blockbuster, a tender, tentative gay subplot notwithstanding.It's a film about acceptance and self-worth.The writer-director cares too deeply for his characters: ‘Ander’ is a warm, generous, wonderfully sympathetic piece of work.
TIME OUT LONDON
Tom Huddleston
The good looking Ander is not based on its simple story line but on the description of the context where it takes place.The moral, sexual and sentimental problems raised by Ander are very significant because they are expressed in the context of an inward-looking Basque rural society rejecting any change and/or novelties, anchored in ritualized traditions, sexist and a bit heartless. Castón’s film is a critical, coded portrait of an unknown reality in other areas of Spain.The control of its slow narrative, the studied lack of emphasis at the most dramatic moments, and the almost Bressonian restrain make Ander a fascinating film at times.
DIRIGIDO POR
Antonio José Navarro
This is the first film with a gay subject matter shot in Basque, and one of the very few which raises sexual diversity in rural areas. This simple and moving first work depicts immigration, nation and sexual diversity in order to talk about the right to love in any domain. A production that according to the five-minute standing ovation by the audience was convincing and promoted a slow and beautiful debate about sexual diversity away from urban centers.
EL PAÍS
Jordi Minguell
Ander, a film with a gay subject matter achieved the CICAE prize at the German Berlinale.The jury valued "the great quality of the script, the risky and precise production and the performance of every actor.
Besides, It valued "its simplicity and formal clarity”, which does not prevent the scenes from “reflecting a great inner strength”. It was pointed out that Ander is “a little work of art”.
EL MUNDO
Europa Press
Roberto Castón upholds in his film Ander gay normalization.
EL PAÍS
Eva Larrauri
Castón invites us to participate in the film, gives us a reason to think about what happens outside the area, forces us to give up the role of passive eaters of images.The film is based on the lines of a rocky script that does not break down. Ander is not read like a speech but like a story; a story which is too prone to tie up the loose ends and lays on the table different social realities for the audience to put on their interpretation finally. Bravo”.
EL CORREO
Josu Eguren
A simple but not a plain story is created and developed around Ander; that is a sincere film that tries to change minds in the Basque society.
DEIA
Carla González
Ander an unusual love story in the Basque country.Love stories between forty-somethings are quite rare, and those set in rural communities are even rarer. Add the fact that in Ander [trailer], the story is predominantly told in Basque and the two protagonists are both men, and you’ve got a unique product. It plays in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
CINEUROPA
Boyd van Hoeij
The story of a closeted farmer who falls in love with his hunky ranch hand, Basque regiondrama "Ander" reps a sort of Spanish-financed version of "Brokeback Mountain," but done on a teensy budget. Extended takes and sluggish pace. Good thesping makes the journey more enjoyable”.
VARIETY
Leslie Felperin
Maintaining the considered pacing throughout, Castón emphasises both the ordinariness and conformism of his characters’ living and the consternation that change, or fear of change, can cause.He benefits from sound performances from all his tight-knit cast. Each character is a genre staple. Castón complements his ingenuous, sometimes wordless script with restrained direction amongst the verdant Pyrenees, utilising a warm palette, sun-bleached at times, lush with natural possibilities at others. The rural setting helps deliver a more temperate piece than some similarly themed urban dramas.Castón develops a sedate critique of sexuality, social identity and cultural mores. Simple messages, simply but warmly told”
EYE FOR FILM
Paul Griffiths
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