Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed

Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed really worked for me. I found it to be a very beautiful, delicate film with a very special kind of melancholy, the sort that does not weigh you down as sadness but lingers with a gentle, human softness. There is something very David Trueba-like in the way it looks at its characters, in the way it approaches them without cynicism, without hurry, and without the need to underline everything. You can feel his hand in it, and for me that is always a plus.What works best is the tone. The film manages to be warm, endearing, and emotional without becoming syrupy or false. It has that mix of tenderness, humor, memory, and quiet disappointment that works very well when it is handled properly, and here it is. It is not trying to turn anything into a grand epic. It is telling an intimate, almost modest journey where what matters is not only what happens, but the company, the gestures, the conversations, and everything that slowly changes inside the characters.Javier Cámara is wonderful. There is so much humanity, naturalness, and quiet control in what he does, and he carries the film without ever seeming to force anything. He makes his character likable, slightly eccentric, and deeply alive at the same time. Natalia de Molina is also excellent, bringing a very beautiful mix of fragility, rebellion, and truth. Between the two of them, and with the help of the rest of the cast, the film finds a lovely balance between lightness and emotion.I also really like the way it recreates a period without turning it into an empty postcard or a lesson in nostalgia. The context is there, of course, but the film does not live off the setting as a trick. It lives through the way that time shapes the lives of its characters. Trueba is very precise there, because his perspective is neither academic nor solemn, but close, sensitive, and fully aware that memory is also made of small details and forms of affection.Some people may find it too gentle or a little predictable in places, and I can understand that reading. It is not a film that seeks roughness or the hardest kind of conflict, and in that sense it clearly leans toward a luminous kind of emotion. But that does not bother me, because the film knows exactly what tone it wants and defends it honestly. It does not need to become bitter in order to leave a **** the end, Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed feels to me like a beautiful film, melancholic in the best sense and deeply human. It is told with sensitivity, grace, and a lot of affection for its characters. It is not sad, even if it carries emotional depth; it is not slight, even if it is gentle. And that is a large part of its value.

This is quite a quirky film with some fairly amusing moments. The characters are all quite likeable in their own way, particularly the main character, who seems more than a little bird brained it could be said but yet I found myself wishing the best for him. I could relate, a little, to what he says about the importance certain music, or lyrics, can have on a person. The main plot is a bit daft but I enjoyed watching it never the less. Oh and I also liked the old(ish) cars present, which are also kind of quirky in their own way too. There is some English present but its mainly a Spanish film, for the most part. I'd recommend it to fans of Spanish film and quriky films with a little bit of comedy present.