The Grandfather

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Film Captures Human Quirks and depths of love
Review: I'm 23. I like electronica, movies with killer special effects, and far out theories on quantum mechanics. This movie is a placid drama that follows the lives of a group of eccentric family members and their immediate friends across the Spanish Countryside.
How could I like this film? Allow me to explain.

Without telling you too much about the film in specifics, it's a tale of beautiful foreign influences on family, morality, psychological healing, and the human presence of compassion. It's as far removed from an American Daytime soap as possible.
The music in the film compliments the breathtaking Spanish countryside in a quaintly eclectic fashion. Two recurring aural themes are Erik Satie's Gymnopedie and Edward Elgar's Nimrod.
The protagonist, an aging man who enters into the lives of his two granddaughters as they undergo the uprooting form their country home, is a man filled with wisdom and simultaneously passion and ferocity. He interacts with youth in a most refreshing fashion, embracing the slipping of emotion reason in his mind, yet holding onto the wisdom years under the sun has taught him.
Plenty of scandal, plenty of plot twist and tasty trajectory, I wouldn't say it keeps you on the edge of your seat, but certainly washes you with beautiful countryside, delicate and effusive music, and brilliant psychology and dialogue between characters. In some ways it reminds me of the playful interplay between Dostoyevsky's characters in Brother's Karamazov.

There's a great showdown with monks, and town buffoons, and a great friendship is formed between the grandfather and his granddaughters' educational mentor. I laughed, almost cried during this film, and sincerely felt satisfied after the deep, meaningful moral ending.

Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: DVD review only -NO movie comments
Review: If you are reading this review then I assume you like the movie and know the storyline and characters. MY personal opinion is not really relevant.

However, the DVD itself is another matter. If you ARE into this movie then grab this DVD. The transfer to DVD is great, and this is the sort of movie you don't need a cinema sized screen to enjoy, just turn it on on a rainy day, grab a cup of tea and sit down.

My only quibble is the lack of features, pretty standard.

Rating:
Summary: Love is more important than honor in Grandfather.
Review: It was only by accident that I happened to see this fine film. It did not take long for me to realize my good fortune. An elderly Spanish count wants to determine which of two young sisters is his legitimate grandchild. Both of the girls are beautiful and talented and love and care for their grandfather, who is a kind of modern day Don Quixote. He is a hard man to deal with and makes life difficult for family and friends; rightfully so, I might add.

The Count values honor above all and this leads him astray as he tries to discover which of the girls has his blood. We are as much in the dark about this problem as the Count and we watch closely as he observes the girls and forms his opinion.

Both the viewer and the Count learn that love is more important and powerful than honor in the powerful conclusion to this film. All the loose ends, and there are many of them, come together in a moving and satisfying conclusion.

The discovery of the Counts true grandchild is the mystery at the heart of Grandfather, but many other subplots make this a very long film to watch. Even so, the acting is so good and the story so compelling that I was sorry when the film finally ended. This movie deserves a wider audience and I hope this review serves that end.

Rating:
Summary: Love is more important than honor in Grandfather.
Review: It was only by accident that I happened to see this fine film. It did not take long for me to realize my good fortune. An elderly Spanish count wants to determine which of two young sisters is his legitimate grandchild. Both of the girls are beautiful and talented and love and care for their grandfather, who is a kind of modern day Don Quixote. He is a hard man to deal with and makes life difficult for family and friends; rightfully so, I might add.

The Count values honor above all and this leads him astray as he tries to discover which of the girls has his blood. We are as much in the dark about this problem as the Count and we watch closely as he observes the girls and forms his opinion.

Both the viewer and the Count learn that love is more important and powerful than honor in the powerful conclusion to this film. All the loose ends, and there are many of them, come together in a moving and satisfying conclusion.

The discovery of the Counts true grandchild is the mystery at the heart of Grandfather, but many other subplots make this a very long film to watch. Even so, the acting is so good and the story so compelling that I was sorry when the film finally ended. This movie deserves a wider audience and I hope this review serves that end.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent foreign movie but sound-sync defective
Review: This film is a masterpeice of Spanish Literature made into film. With classic themes of Love, honor, family and pride this film is one everyone can relate to on some level. In addition the use of light in this film will take your breathe away. It is so vivid as to be like another actor in the scenes. I rented this film with little thought and came away astounded. Now I own it. So if you can watch one movie without a car chase or an explosion you ought to make it this one! What a gem!

Rating:
Summary: A True Gem
Review: This film is a masterpeice of Spanish Literature made into film. With classic themes of Love, honor, family and pride this film is one everyone can relate to on some level. In addition the use of light in this film will take your breathe away. It is so vivid as to be like another actor in the scenes. I rented this film with little thought and came away astounded. Now I own it. So if you can watch one movie without a car chase or an explosion you ought to make it this one! What a gem!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent foreign movie but sound-sync defective
Review: This is a beautifully filmed, scripted and acted movie. It was directed by the same director of "To Begin Again/Volver a Empezar" (1982). However, many non-spanish speakers might not have noticed this, but the spanish language soundtrack (the original language of this film) is out of sync with the video. I contacted Miramax and they sent me another copy of the DVD. It had exactly the same problem. It is a shame that such a beautiful film was produced without adequate quality control. I almost gave it 3 stars because of this defect; but this is not the fault of the artists.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent foreign movie but sound-sync defective
Review: This is a beautifully filmed, scripted and acted movie. It was directed by the same director of "To Begin Again/Volver a Empezar" (1982). However, many non-spanish speakers might not have noticed this, but the spanish language soundtrack (the original language of this film) is out of sync with the video. I contacted Miramax and they sent me another copy of the DVD. It had exactly the same problem. It is a shame that such a beautiful film was produced without adequate quality control. I almost gave it 3 stars because of this defect; but this is not the fault of the artists.

Rating:
Summary: 4 stars rating is well deserved - a quite good movie
Review: very good movie full of intellectual dialogues, beautiful scenes and settings, disgusting people, likable and lovely people are well chosen and nicely performed. this is a film that needs you to sit back to appreciate with better spirit and not feel sleepy or tired before starting, otherwise you might fall asleep or nodding off without even knowing it. but once you finish it, you'd know that you've watched a very good film. there is no climax or downturns but peacefully carried out and performed well from the very beginning to the very end.