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November
Impelled by a spirit which still preserves a patina of idealism, Alfredo arrives to Madrid with the intention to create "a performance that is free, straight from the heart, capable of making people feel alive". His concept of what acting should be begins beyond the stage, out in the streets face to face with the public. Outdoors, in any town square, in a park or in the city's most commercial street, Alfredo and his troupe November start the show; demons to provoke passers-by, displays of social conscience, actions taken to the extreme to put the forces of law and order on full alert. There are no limits, no censorship; only ideas which are always valid so long as the public ceases to be the public and becomes part of the show swept by surprise, fear, tears or laughter. Theater as life, life as theater… there is no longer any difference.
Release : | 2003 |
Rating : | 7.6 |
Studio : | Tesela Producciones Cinematográficas, Alta Films, |
Crew : | Director of Photography, Director, |
Cast : | Óscar Jaenada Ingrid Rubio Javier Ríos Núria Gago Héctor Alterio |
Genre : | Drama Comedy Thriller |
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Reviews
Fantastic!
Don't listen to the negative reviews
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
It felt a bit heavy-handed with all talk of doing theatre for free and that it somehow has more value because they are doing it solely for the art. But there are some good performances in this and ultimately I don't think the message was bad, it just felt a bit on the nose. The music was quite enjoyable but overall I don't really recommend it.
Interesting interpretation on the creative freedom. The enormous Spanish tradition of the spectacle in the street has been truncated time and time again by the successive powers that always have seen in the theater a disturbing element of the well-thinking society. It is why it has been always persecuted and prevented the free expression. More,in spite of it, always moved away groups of commercial the circuits and for that reason prostituted, that have preferred the proximity with the public, true adressee of the representations have existed, shaking the consciences to wake up them of the sleepiness collective who undergoes that customary society to the easy televising programs or truculent,violent, unreal, manipulating and cheating films of the majority and overwhelming American cinema. And to the aim the tribute that must pay that exercise of free expression in this furious world by the idea of the security, on the one hand, and the absurd terrorism that are not another thing that the two faces of the same currency. What matters is to restore the fear to the freedom. And when this it does not exist or the money does not corrupt it, it is had to shoot on the pianist.
This is a movie about the lost if innocence in cinema, in theatre... in art. Alfredo, the main character, is just a boy who loves theatre, he doesn't want to become a big movie star, nor a stage star. He doesn't want even to make money by acting. So he decides to create an independent street theatre company with some of his partners from the Art School. The movie isn't based on a true story, but it certainly looks like it was (We can see all the characters 30 years after the company was created, talking about it. Just like if it was a documentary). It does not matter that much if the performances of Alfredo and his crew aren't too brilliant because that's not what this film is about. You don't have to live in Spain to comprehend the point of this movie (as the previous commentator suggests). Just take a look around and see how everything in art's been prostituted. That's what this film is about. About not giving in, about fighting the establishment. Although the final sequence clearly shows us that the establishment cannot be beaten. Sad but true. Noviembre is one of the more brilliant Spanish films that I've recently seen. I highly recommend you to watch it. Nevermind if you're Spanish, north-American, or German...
Never read anything about this film, so when it showed on cable, I decided to see it. The idea of making theatre in the streets seemed an interesting idea. To bring drama to the masses, in that environment, is to be commended.Approaching Achero Manas' picture, without having any background to the history behind it, doesn't make much sense to an ordinary viewer. Maybe to audiences in Spain, it might resonate, or at least, given the publicity surrounding some of its most daring pieces, they could bring a proximity, which to me, seemed illusive, at best.First of all, the group, as I gathered, was active in Madrid in the past. We see Alfredo organizing his troupe of actors, then we are given glimpses of some of their work in the center of the city. The director brings another dimension by adding an explanation as to why things worked, or didn't, and its ultimate demise, by presenting actors, mostly in their 50s or older, talking directly to the camera telling us about their experiences when they were young. If we are to believe them, it would have put the action as having taken place in the 60s, in a Spain where Franco still dominated and most of the actions of the Noviembre group would not have occurred, and not in the recent past. If the director wanted to add this sort of device, he would have achieved more reality by presenting the same actors we see, throughout the film, as part of the Noviembre group, doing the explanations.Some of the Noviembre theater pieces aren't even interesting! One wonders what was the big deal about them. Maybe the fact that it was never done in Spain? In other western countries, where street performances happen on a daily basis, these performances they did, seem very tame and pointless. Only their piece about the assault to apparently innocent bystanders have any real punch, the rest, doesn't amount to much.Unfortunately this Spanish film seems to have been made for only a few, that knew the in joke, not for the rest of us outside of Spain.