Los lunes al sol follows the lives of a group of Galician ship builders who have been made redundant. Fernando de Leon, the director, has commented in interviews that Brit-grit director Ken Loach is among his biggest influences. In its focus on a world of brooding, inarticulate males whose wives are the breadwinners, the film certainly suggests parallels with English films such as Riff-Raff, The Full Monty and Brassed Off. As in these films, unemployed men struggle in reconciling traditional masculinity with a post-industrial society which no longer values their skills.
As usual, Leon elicits some great performances from his actors: a paunched Javier Bardem is fantastic as the sardonic womaniser, Santa; Luis Tosar is convincingly intense as his buddy José. While Santa hurls bricks at a streetlight in protest, Tosar observes his lot with a quiet, uncomprehending desperation. As in his other films Barrio and Princesas, however, Leon's improvised, episodic approach to film-making ultimately backfires: loose and meandering, the film too often loses its focus. Also, certain sequences lapse into a sentimentality which undercuts Leon's commitment to realism. This is compounded by the unfortunate choice soundtrack: limp and sugary, it lends it the feel of an overlong soap opera. Take My Eyes (Iciar Bollaín) is a much more controlled and subtle handling of Spanish social realism.
As usual, Leon elicits some great performances from his actors: a paunched Javier Bardem is fantastic as the sardonic womaniser, Santa; Luis Tosar is convincingly intense as his buddy José. While Santa hurls bricks at a streetlight in protest, Tosar observes his lot with a quiet, uncomprehending desperation. As in his other films Barrio and Princesas, however, Leon's improvised, episodic approach to film-making ultimately backfires: loose and meandering, the film too often loses its focus. Also, certain sequences lapse into a sentimentality which undercuts Leon's commitment to realism. This is compounded by the unfortunate choice soundtrack: limp and sugary, it lends it the feel of an overlong soap opera. Take My Eyes (Iciar Bollaín) is a much more controlled and subtle handling of Spanish social realism.