Rating: 
Summary: Delightful romp builds on "mistaken identity" theme
Review: "Meeting a stranger in a public place + mistaken identity = hillarity." It's a premise that has been used in romantic comedy films for 40 years, but it is given a creatively modern and deliciously diverse twist in "Km.0" (Kilometer Zero), a 2000 romantic comedy set in Madrid. Fourteen diverse people, including an engaged couple, a nervous man looking for his first sexual experience, a hooker, a would-be director and a would-be actress, a rich matron looking for a fling without her neglectful husband, a musical producer, all plan to meet someone at the landmark spot in that city at the same time, and everyone ends up spending time with someone other than who they planned to meet.
It's a fast-paced, creative and warmly captivating farce, showing how people's lives can unexpectedly intersect and affect each other for good. The characters, and the actors that play them, are genuine and likeable, and the direction and photography are excellent. If there is to be one central moral of the story, it must be "Life goes on...and so do you", with subplots involving reluctant grooms, a mother-and-son "reunion" that doesn't go as she planned, one that could be titled "Queer Guardian Angel for the Straight Guy," and kind of a reverse "Pretty Woman" story. Not a gay film, but the gay characterizations are positive and endearing. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Rating: 
Summary: Irregular
Review: Contrary to some reviews I think the movie doesn't try to be realistic at all. If that were true I'd say it fails miserably (this script has some 'major coincidence' scenes like you wouldn't believe). I think instead it goes for a 'magic realism' tone, and mostly succeeds. What bugged me after watching the film is how marvelous people all the characters were. I mean, they're all of the 'heart of gold' kind. They just worry a bit about some trouble they have and bingo, the next person they meet has the solution. It's a bit too much. But enjoyable anyway.
The dvd has an acceptable anamorphic widescreen transfer and the subtitles are optional.
Rating: 
Summary: The perfect romantic comedy.
Review: I should have written sooner. Sorry. This movie is frothy, like frothing at the mouth, but it is not not fluffy. Until the last minute of the film, it is merely glorious. The stunning ending passeth glory, and brought grateful tears to the eyes of my friends and me. We are all over 30, and so maybe know enough about life, and its lost chances, to take this loving document to heart.
The device of meeting at the "origin" of the graph of life sets up a promising metaphor. Various individuals unknown to each other have arranged to meet another at Km.0 at 6PM. Everyone goes off with the wrong person. Almost every major kind of couple except lesbian is represented, including mother and son. The mismatches cause enormous audience anxiety, and so the surprising resolutiuons are satisfying in the extreme.
Even in this age of ignorance, some will have heard of Freud and the Oedipus Complex. Oedipal horror is aroused at the intimation that a mother has had sex with her son. But this is a red psychological herring. What matters is that the entire film takes place with the father absent. He is too busy at a business conference to care what his wife is doing, as she pursues sex in Madrid with men the age of her lost son. The film in effect kills off the father, leaving Romance to unfold with infinite meaning and in in perfect order. The "mystical" conclusion transcends psychology as it wraps up the meaningful coincidences into a neat package. The mysticism is completely pagan, (as was the end to the first Matrix film), claiming that Romance is the True God.
If Life Without Father could be as wonderful and loving as it is portrayed here, we could all live and love happily ever after.
Rating:
Summary: A Sparkling Spanish Comedy of Errors!
Review: It seems we are in a time for the release of many fine Spanish films and the release of the DVD KILOMETER.0 is one of the best. Directed by Yolanda Garcia Serrano and Juan Luis Ibarra (yes, two directors and perhaps that is why the story is so equally cognizant of the female/male interpretation of relationships), this beautifully paced, hilarious, touching, tender comedy has it all. 'Km.0' is the very center of Madrid and serves as a coincidental meeting point for each of the 14 characters in the story. Mistaken identities, curious consequences, chance fortunes and misfortunes, surprise discoveries all collide and the result is a fun and entertaining farce that keeps your attention through the film. Each of the characters (a prostitute, a novice film director, gay men out for internet encounters, hustlers, middle aged needy women, sisters at opposite ends of the values spectrum, a sexually uptight fiancee, a needy bartender, a frustrated actress/singer, a guardian angel, etc) is well fleshed out and everyone of these disparate characters finds the entry to our heart at the end of a day. The cast is uniformly excellent: each one finds the center of the character so that we know the characters as well as we know our best friends. The musical score is a delight, the views of Madrid and the funky interiors of the various rendezvous all are imaginatively colorful, and the sensitivity of the two directors is secure and mature. This is a little marvel of a film is well worth buying for your permanent collection. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Rating:
Summary: One hot day ¿ fourteen people ¿ countless possibilities!
Review: Kilometer Zero (Km.0) is a wonderful Spanish import about how missed connections and fate can alter your life path. Fourteen people are drawn to the title spot at the center of Madrid for various assignations on one of the hottest day of the year. A young film director arrives in town, looking to share an apartment with an actress friend of his sister. The actress, intent on kickstarting her career, spots a famous producer and hatches a plan to get his attention. A down-on-her-luck hooker arranges to meet an inexperienced groom-to-be to conduct some business. A dancer uses the internet to connect with a sex partner. A middle-aged businessman's neglected wife fills her hours of boredom by hiring a gigolo. The gigolo's roommate, a gay man, longs for a lover rather than just another sexual partner. In the heat, patience evaporates and fate intervenes, leading to numerous missed connections and mistaken identities. Several locals become drawn into the mix as well, including a local bartender who dreams of owning his own business; the bartender's shallow, robbery-prone fiancée and her younger sister; a police officer with impulse control issues; and a mysterious stranger who seems rather bemused by the whole scenario. The film is extremely European in tone, and very unlike similar-themed American and British comedies. Sexuality is celebrated in all forms, including physical relations between older women and younger men, friendly intimacy and flirting between straight men and gay men, and the goal of helping a prostitute to earn what she's worth, rather than rescuing her from the profession. Sex scenes are fun and erotic without becoming overly graphic, human frailties are addressed without judgment, and taboo topics of concern are touched upon as plot points before being clarified as misunderstandings. The cast is uniformly attractive and up to the challenge, the script does an excellent job of interweaving the various characters and storylines, and the direction and production values are first rate. If you enjoy films that are politically incorrect, brazen, and very, very sexy, you'll have a great time meeting up with the crowd at Kilometer Zero.
Rating:
Summary: Missed Potential!
Review: Km.0 started off started off very well. Fourteen people all agree to meet at Km.0, the center of Madrid, for various reasons. Unfortunately, a series of mix-ups ensue and their lives intersect in one way or another. It seemed like a promising and original romantic comedy, and for the most part, it was. Unfortunately, in the end, it took a downhill detour and headed for the worst. My friends and I were thouroughly enjoying this movie, a fun, light, and fluffy comedy that was funny and charming. However, with only 20 minutes left, it seemed the writer was just trying to finish off the film without any thought or originality put into it like the rest of the picture. The very rushed, very cheesy, and horribly coincidental ending destroyed what I would have otherwise considered one of the best films of the year. Being a screenwriter myself, I understood what was trying to be done, I just didn't feel it worked for this particular picture and there were plenty of missed opportunitites for the ending. Nonetheless, the film was still very enjoyable, but the ending disappointed us all, and made us laugh because of how bad it was. It's worth a rent though for lovers of foreign or independent cinema.
Rating:
Summary: A Movie of humanity
Review: Thank Goodness for European Cinema!! Leave the fantastical budgets, and astounding special effects to the likes of hollywood! This is a movie about humanity, human emotion, and the interaction and development of wonderful characters. The plot is wonderful, there are 12 characters, and all of them are important but it is not, in the least, convoluted. The characters are all well fleshed out and developed, and one can not help but feel empathy, sympathy for each and every one of them. The story involves the characters having independently made arrangements to meet (they do not all know one another, they are meeting in pairs) but they are all meeting at the same spot, the famous Kilometer 0, at the Puerta Del Sol! Confusion for characters ensues, allowing the viewer to see the wonderful mulitdimensionality of them. It is a fast paced and consuming movie. It is in spanish, but has english and french subtitles, ad the wonderful acting does, in many ways, transcend the language barrier. I watched it with a friend who speaks no spanish and he liked it as much as I. There is a love story for everyone in this film, gay or straight. There are relationships other than love and lust as well, and the ecclectic mix of characters makes for a wonderful and transforming film. I encourage all film fans, and fans of humanity and the human condition to buy (or at the very least rent) this film. It is worth while, and can easily be watched more than once.
Rating:
Summary: A Movie of humanity
Review: Thank Goodness for European Cinema!! Leave the fantastical budgets, and astounding special effects to the likes of hollywood! This is a movie about humanity, human emotion, and the interaction and development of wonderful characters. The plot is wonderful, there are 12 characters, and all of them are important but it is not, in the least, convoluted. The characters are all well fleshed out and developed, and one can not help but feel empathy, sympathy for each and every one of them. The story involves the characters having independently made arrangements to meet (they do not all know one another, they are meeting in pairs) but they are all meeting at the same spot, the famous Kilometer 0, at the Puerta Del Sol! Confusion for characters ensues, allowing the viewer to see the wonderful mulitdimensionality of them. It is a fast paced and consuming movie. It is in spanish, but has english and french subtitles, ad the wonderful acting does, in many ways, transcend the language barrier. I watched it with a friend who speaks no spanish and he liked it as much as I. There is a love story for everyone in this film, gay or straight. There are relationships other than love and lust as well, and the ecclectic mix of characters makes for a wonderful and transforming film. I encourage all film fans, and fans of humanity and the human condition to buy (or at the very least rent) this film. It is worth while, and can easily be watched more than once.
Rating:
Summary: Love Actually goes to Spain
Review: This is a charming film filled with attractive actors and good acting; clever and funny, but poignant story lines. This film one-ups "Love Actually" in that it includes a story line involving a gay couple. Watch it "with someone you love" (if possible)
Rating:
Summary: A TEN STAR MOVIE
Review: This movie is a gem of a movie. I have not loved a "new" film as much as this in a very long time! You will fall in love with all of characters and this is mainly due to the skill of the actors that portray them. See this film with someone you love. You won't regret it!!!!!! Why can't Hollywood make a film like this?
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