The Other Side
Theatrical release poster
SpanishEl otro barrio
Directed bySalvador García Ruiz
Screenplay bySalvador García Ruiz
Based onEl otro barrio
by Elvira Lindo
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTeo Delgado
Edited byCarmen Frías
Music byPascal Gaigne
Production
company
Tornasol Films
Distributed byAlta Films
Release dates
  • 24 September 2000 (2000-09-24) (Zinemaldia)
  • 11 October 2000 (2000-10-11) (Spain)
Running time
130 min
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish

The Other Side (Spanish: El otro barrio) is a 2000 Spanish drama film written and directed by Salvador García Ruiz and based on the novel by Elvira Lindo. It stars Àlex Casanovas and Jorge Alcázar.

Plot

Set in Vallecas, the plot follows the vicissitudes of Ramón, a chubby teenager who is involved in a combo of tragedies, unwillingly slicing the jugular of his best friend with the edge of a cockle can, prompting the latter's girlfriend's death by fall from balcony, and ensuing death of another neighbor. While the criminal investigation tries to shed light on the matter, Ramon is taken to a children's home. Via the contact established by Ramón's sister Gloria, Ramón is provided help by Marcelo, a lawyer raised in the hood who has returned to Madrid from Barcelona.[1][2][3][4][5]

Cast

Production

García Ruiz's sophomore feature after Mensaka, The Other Side is based on the novel El otro barrio by Elvira Lindo.[5] It was produced by Tornasol Films and it had the participation of Vía Digital.[2] Shooting locations included Vallecas.[5]

Release

The film screened at the 48th San Sebastián International Film Festival in September 2000.[3][7] Distributed by Alta Films,[2] it was theatrically released in Spain on 11 October 2000.[1] Wild Bunch scooped the international distribution rights.[8]

Reception

David Rooney of Variety considered that García Ruiz delivers "a dense, intimate drama that avoids all the cliches of the problem-teen genre and instead creates an affecting, acutely observed portrait of people in a specific but universally recognizable social milieu", otherwise deeming the psychological drama to be "too subtle" for wide commercial coverage.[2]

José María Caparrós Lera highlights the film's "extreme callousness and narrative classicism" as its hallmarks.[1]

Ángel Fernández-Santos of El País considered the film to be bold yet unbalanced, assessing that the script is not "well-constructed" nor "calculated", but quite the opposite, with the sketch of the lawyer suffering from inaccuracies that imperil the film's formal framework.[9]

Accolades

Year Award CategoryNominee(s) ResultRef.
200115th Goya AwardsBest Adapted ScreenplaySalvador García RuizNominated[10]
10th Actors Union AwardsBest Secondary Performance in a FilmPepa PedrocheNominated[11][12]
Best Minor Performance in a FilmGuillermo ToledoNominated

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Caparrós Lera 2005, p. 151.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rooney, David (27 November 2000). "The Other Side". Variety.
  3. 1 2 Fernández-Santos, Elsa (26 September 2000). "El alma de Vallecas". El País.
  4. ↑ "'El otro barrio, en 'Historia de nuestro cine'". Diez Minutos. 25 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 "El director de 'Mensaka' rueda en Vallecas una película sobre las huellas del pasado". El País. 24 March 2000.
  6. ↑ Caparrós Lera, José María (2005). La Pantalla Popular. El cine español durante el Gobierno de la derecha (1996-2003). Tres Cantos: Ediciones Akal. p. 151. ISBN 978-84-460-2414-9.
  7. ↑ "El primer entredicho lo generó Francia". La Prensa. 26 September 2009.
  8. ↑ Meaux Saint Marc, Francoise (29 September 2000). "Wild Bunch picks up El Otro Barrio". ScreenDaily.
  9. ↑ Fernández-Santos, Ángel (25 September 2000). "García Ruiz hace en 'El otro barrio' un audaz, pero no bien medido, ejercicio de gran estilo". El País.
  10. ↑ Viaje al cine español. 25 años de los Premios Goya (PDF), Lunwerg, 2011, p. 286, ISBN 978-84-9785-791-8
  11. ↑ "La Unión de Actores presenta a los finalistas de sus premios". ABC. 10 March 2001.
  12. ↑ "Juan Echanove y Carmen Maura, premios de la Unión de Actores". El País. 13 March 2001.
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