#on the fringe

[warningsine]

En los márgenes (2022), dir. Juan Diego Botto

The stakes are high in this ticking clock social thriller produced by and starring Spanish icon Penélope Cruz and centered on Spain's housing crisis. Azucena (Cruz) is a supermarket employee days away from an eviction notice; Rafa (Luis Tosar, in an engrossing performance) is a tenants' rights lawyer whose activism is on the verge of destroying his marriage; and Teodora (Adelfa Calvo) is an elderly woman attempting but failing to reach her son, an unskilled laborer ashamed of his trade. Writer/director Juan Diego Botto and co-writer Olga Rodríguez interweave these three stories to create a propulsive gut-punch of a film that puts a face to the numbing statistics that are a harsh reality of Spanish society and calls to mind the work of social realist director Ken Loach (I, DANIEL BLAKE). Official Selection, 2022 Venice and San Sebastián film festivals. DIR/SCR Juan Diego Botto SCR Olga Rodríguez PROD Penélope Cruz, Álvaro Longoria.

[sophs-style]

sophs-style:

Penelope Cruz (wearing Chanel Haute Couture) at the premiere of 'On The Fringe' at the 79th Venice Film Festival on Tuesday (6th September 2022) in Venice, Italy.

[laufire]

last night I went to a showing of En los márgenes (the English title is "On The Fringe"). it's a film mainly focused on the eviction problem in Spain, although it also touches other issues -immigration, social services, job insecurity, etc. I liked it a lot; it was very real and gutting (especially when you know other than the main characters the people in the Stop Desahucios organisation shown are actually part of it irl and those are their stories), but that's beside the point. mainly it's one of those films I leave wanting to have a long talk with the director lol.

(spoilers ahead, obviously. I do recommend watching the film and I'm of the opinion spoilers don't ruin good things, but YMMV)

said director, btw, is Juan Diego Botto. some of you in Tumblr might know him from Good Behavior? it wasn't too popular around here, I don't think, but I have seen people talk about it at least. he played a killer for hire next to Michelle Dockery's con artist thief xD

anyway. as I said. I wanna talk to him about it. after we spent probably a good hour or two expanding on the most important parts of the film, like the housing problem and social welfare and community outreach, and then a brief detour where I tell him I like him in Good Behavior but I like Dockery better xD, I REALLY want to pick his brain about what are his thoughts on husbands and fathers (and men in families in general) because I gotta say, I felt VERY in-sync with this film on that regard LMAO.

first of all, I'm very amused by the role he gave himself. I get why he wouldn't play the salt of the earth activist lawyer since that might've been too big a part to do while directing (plus like, if you have Luis Tosar as an actor that was clearly HIS part. now, why isn't he one of the ugly old balding celebrity man I find on the streets. he's a TALENTED ugly old balding celebrity man at least). but he could've just as easily played that poor woman's son, whose story was more tragic and a tad more sympathetic, and who at least ended the movie desperately trying to right his wrongs.

but nope! he played the part of a husband whose wounded pride was completely screwing his wife and son, instead of actually supporting them. he didn't even get to kiss Penelope Cruz about it xD. I kinda expected the character to get a redeeming moment at the end, like joining his wife and Stop Desahucios when they're fighting the cops to stop his family's eviction, but we just have a moment with him looking at them from afar with an :O expression. we don't know if he's still ashamed they need their help and that he still thinks what his wife is doing is "an embarrassment", or if he's finally touched by the show of support, or what.

now I want to discuss the lawyer because his character really hammered home one of the principles I firmly believe in, which is that even arguably good men make for shitty husband's and disappointing father figures in our society xDD. like I said he was played by Luis Tosar, which automatically makes me a little more lenient, I can't deny that (OTOH boy, did the character remind me of my own father aldjskk. that balanced it a little!). and yes, he tries to help people in need, and helps that immigrant mother whose daughter the cops took away. and looking at the bigger picture, which IS my default position, that's more important than the stepson's trip and MAYBE even than the wife having company in that medical procedure, although that part was really shitty... but maybe in that case you shouldn't try to be a Family Man if you aren't wired that way, or make promises you can't fucking keep as the stepson accuses him of (when the wife told him at the beginning that he should've warned her she was going to have to deal with the pregnancy alone... fuck him etc.).

I also feel more lenient about him than about Botto's character because the story ends with the wife kicking him out lmao. she doesn't even discuss it with him or gives him a chance to talk it out, she just leaves a suitcase on the street next to the apartment. it was glorious xD. he and the stepson have a nice progression and end on a good note, with the son telling him to be around (and hey, maybe he'll actually keep that promise...), but the wife said "enough" and it took, which I love. and I appreciate how the film made the point a couple of times to say SHE was the one bringing home more money, and that's why she COULD kick him out and be fine. something that subtly contrasts with the marriage between Cruz and Botto's characters, which ends on a bad note but doesn't definitely end, because that's not an option for her.

there's also the other story, with the old woman whose son is too ashamed to have screwed up once to be there for his widowed mother until it's probably too late. that one was absolutely gutting too, and gendered in a different, less usual way.

I'm just rambling at this point but TL;DR: even married women are single mothers. motherhood is a thankless tragedy. men's pride has a body count. very in-sync, as I said lol. Juan Diego Botto let's discuss this. I want to know how much of this is conscious thought or whether you'd feel defensive about it xD

[disarmluna]

Penelope Cruz in Madrid for Premiere of On The Fringe

[theuniversalscat]

[satyrradio]

my favorite breaking bad images are the ones where Gus is just holding things

+ bonus

[howifeltabouthim]

Fergus was left alone; and all at once a feeling of desolation came over him, not only from the realization that he had no way of getting home, but from a feeling that his world was crumbling round him. He was no longer the centre of it; he existed only on its outside edge; he could not attach any meaning to himself.

L.P. Hartley, from The Harness Room

[johndoe-lesbo]

do not. Sell my husband twelve fascinating issues of Zoobooks and the Tiger Poster.

[batbabydamian]

Damian adjusting to his new hairstyle in B&R 2023

[wombywoo]

retired 🩶

[kylejsugarman]

i adore the breaking bad scene where all the guys at don eladio's place drink the poisoned tequila and start dropping dead because we the audience understand that this is an act of revenge that gus has been planning for years to avenge the death of his business and romantic partner, but jesse was never told any of this so he just got brought to a baller pool party by his new scary boss, a hot girl sat on his cock, and then everyone started dying and shooting at each other while he just stood there like

[boinkyspoinky]

Me and my mutuals

[flashcs5]

gay meth

[deejay]

[margesimpsonsqueef]