SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

operez3 A masterpiece of international cinema that tranceeds all unnatural boundaries as it deals with human emotions which know no boundaries. Maria Galana who plays an old woman in the sixties from a village in South Spain. Her four sons have moved away as soon as they could to the north.Her husband is admitted to one hospital in the city where she finds herself a bit out of place. Her daughter lives in the same city whom her husband hates as she has gone beyond the cultural limitations and has studied. The daughter played by Ana Fernandez is a character who wants to be rich and hates the way her mother has lived her life like one obidient wife.The movie comes to its real essence when Ana becomes preganant and her boyfriend refuses to take up the responsibility and asks her to abortion. Parallely her monther meets Ana's neighbour-a man in his sixties as well who is as "solas" as Maria even after being married and Ana even after doin what she wanted. Ana's struggle with her identity and her crave to have the child with the fight for her self respect is very well carried by the script.How the things turn up and how Ana realises the importance of her mother and her life, how her mother manages herself intelligebily between all those who hardly want to see each other, the old man wants to be with lady and the story itself which is itself a pillar in the movie are to be watched out for.I say its a best movie when one cannot jus leave his/her seat, its when you feel every bit of the characters are going through, its when every node of the music makes your herat beats.... You can expect everything from it that you expect our of a classic!!

Diand Solas is a story that mirrors the lives a mother and her daughter María have as both have abusive relationships. When María's father is in hospital her mother stays with her daughter in Seville and meets a man (Vecino) of her own age in the apartment block. María's friend is only interested in the sexual part of their relation and immediately insists on having an abortion when he finds out she's pregnant. Mother and daughter now have to make important decisions about their future.The movie has a bleak and depressing atmosphere: María has an alcohol addiction, she becomes jobless after working as a cleaning lady, hospital scenes with María's not too friendly father, Seville has never looked worse. Also most color schemes are rather dark, except for the halls in the apartment block and Vecino's apartment as it is there that consolation is found by both women. The theme of abusive relationships is nowadays hot in Spanish cinema with the recent (and more centered) Te doy mis ojos. The Andalusian dialect is well done here as many people learning to speak Spanish will have trouble understanding parts of the movie.Some symbolism is used in this movie: Vecino's dog (loyalty but also guardian) is used to remind us of the disloyalty towards the father the mother experiences when she meets Vecino. María and her father sniffing on people, also demanding dog-like loyalty. Vecino's fish is fresh at first, but is later in the freezer, as is the possibility of a relationship between Vecino and the mother. And mind the name of our main protagonist María in relation to her story; her mother and father have no name in the movie; the mother played by María Galiana. The main message seems to be that nobody can be happy alone, although the irony is of course that all are alone (or lonely) because of one abusive relationship.Solas tells its story in a very slow pace, maybe to let us experience how slowly time flows for these unfortunate people. Its style is rather distant, so expect no cheap sentiment here. In the end the movie makes a time leap, but it feels as if that ending was rushed to leave the theater in a more uplifted mood. Also the ending feels contrived in a way. The same often happens with Mike Leigh's movies; take All or Nothing for instance, a movie and director where Solas has more in common with than meets the eye.The director Benito Zambrano has good storytelling skills, but lacks visual imagination when it comes to the medium of film. As he is also unable to structure the story in an interesting way, he is certainly no match for Pedro Almodóvar who has better visual skills and has learned how to structure a story. I guess Zambrano would be a far better writer than director. Solas is an interesting failure and one of the first Spanish movies in a long row I disliked somewhat. But that's also a little reassuring from the country that by now makes the most interesting movies in Europe.

Josh "Solas" is a wonderful movie with a great plot and great actors.Maria Galiana as an old and rural woman that goes to the city to see her daughter and her illness husband made me cry.Is an special movie with a good screenplay.I'm an andalusian boy and movies always has been unfair with Andalusia.In all those movies,andalusian were funny and stereotyped people of the flolcorical Spain.This movie show us how is the life of very rural women in my country.Also,"Solas" is one of the best movies about the relationship between a mother and her daughter that i've ever seen.As loneliness' portrait ,"Solas" os powerful too.Is a movie that insinuate more than what show it,as all good movies.For all those whose dreams are not come true,this movie show us that the loneliness is not the best way to do.

silviopellerani Nowadays it is not so easy to find a film that hits directly your heart and sentiments. Benito Zambrano gives an opportunity to recover all those sentiments that are well hidden in your subconscious.Carmona is a small town too close to Seville to have a real identity and is the frame for a difficult and impossible relationship between a daughter, mother and father. Zambrano shows how difficult is to grow up in this outcast and bit farmer town with the leit-motiv of these three characters that join back together due to the father's illness. The father is marked rude and impolite, used to hit the wife or the daughter to show his total dominance and authority. The wife was totally subjected to this situation and the opportunity to find some understanding and heat with their neighbour is accepted with detachment by her. This side relationship with a lonely man brings back love to this sad and destroyed family. The daughter is even worse, alcoholic and in love with a truck driver who does not care of her pregnancy.The loneliness of the void with a breach of optimism is well expressed in this simple but very effective and straight film.Rating: 7/10