ALCARRÀS

If only the scenes that successfully explore family relations would have been expanded upon, the bland and disappointing Alcarràs might have been a true crowd-pleaser.

Alcarràs, which dominated the Spanish Academy Awards this year and also picked up the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Fest, offers a tragicomic look at a family of fruit farmers who are gradually squeezed out by big corporations and low prices for their produce.

Alas the tragedy is mostly of the tepid kind and the comedy barely has you moving the corner of your mouth. A pedantic pace, a lack of memorable performances and an overall narrative shrug of the shoulders further add to the blandness of Alcarràs, which never justifies why it has won so many prizes.

Perhaps viewers saw the movie that Alcarràs could have been instead of the film that actually unspooled in front of them. Because, yes, with some clever finetuning this picture might have pulled off a similar trick to what CODA managed last year: to get your heart instantly involved with a family facing the dying moments of the family business.

If only the scenes that successfully explore family relations would have been expanded upon, the makers might have had a real crowd-pleaser on their hands.

release: 2022

director: Carla Simón

starring: Josep Abad, Jordi Pujol Dolcet, Anna Otin, Albert Bosch