Event

Under the Stars

Director of several internationally acclaimed short films, Flix Viscarret easily makes the transition to features with this offbeat, delicately observed tale that swept the major prizes at this years Spanish national film festival in Malaga. Benito Lacunza (Alberto San Juan) is a mediocre trumpet player eking out a living when he gets word that his father has died. Back home, he reconnects with his brother Lalo, a sculptor and former alcoholic who has struggled to get straight. Lalo is planning to marry Nines, which Benito is against until he meets Nines daughter Ainara (Violeta Rodriguez), an introverted child with whom Benito creates a most unusual friendship. Viscarret elegantly captures the feeling of small-town life, with its suspicions, jealousies and sense that everyone knows everybody elses business. San Juan is excellent as Benito: just the right combination of big-city snobbery and barely concealed vulnerability. In her first major role, Rodriguez is a revelation.