Flirting with Flamenco (2006)

A rather silly movie not devoid of some charm. I appreciated it in its moments bordering on pure nonsense, even if they don't quite feel earned. It's rather odd in its soap-operistic plotline, which really lays it on thick on drama and twists, so ridiculous that you can sorta chalk them up as parts of that nonsense. There's a whole lot of amateur vibe in pretty much everything here, from the writing to most performances: the characters are serviceable and the actors cover their roles well (great job by the casting director, seriously) but at no point anyone's performance is 'believable' - the two main actresses basically quit acting a few years later, and I can sorta see why. I am not insulting their performance, on the contrary I did find enjoyment in their characterization, but we are talking about, again, soap opera level. The direction of the final flamenco scene was great if the actress was not too skilled in that dance, as it covered her flaws beautifully. Of course if she had actually a talent in the dance, it was pretty bad, since it hardly gave us any chance to appreciate it.
The call center bits were okay, but very soon lost any meaning and relatability because of the overblown personal drama slash Cinderella-kind of direction the story took, which lacked any semblance of subtlety.

Not a terrible movie, but you have to be into that particular style of overdramatic narrative and twists without much logic and depth. The characters here are driven by the plot through such moral U turns that you may be completely thrown off the road during one of those.

Sammo ★