Km.0, a sweet-natured and gloriously vibrant Spanish film, is perhaps possessed of one of the most beautiful looking casts that I've ever seen in a movie. Full of pretty men, and women, Km.0 is all about the importance of serendipity and providence, and that life's choices and coincidences can sneak up on you, just when you least expect it.
It's August, and Madrid is absolutely sweltering. In fact, it's so hot that everyone, distracted by the heat, is prone to getting his or her connections scrambled. When fourteen separate people show up for arranged liaisons at central Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where the street marker reads Kilometer Zero, they end up loving and connecting in ways that they never intended to.
Paths unexpectedly intersect, misunderstandings are randomly accepted, new relationships are formed, and the steamy heat raises new passions in a fluid dance of sex and love. The plot is contrived and the idea is far from original, but producers Juan Luis Iborra and Yolanda García Serrano, imbue the proceedings with such a fresh-faced effervescence, that the movie's shortcomings fail to diminish its many free-spirited and bubbly moments.
The neurotic hooker, Tatiana (Elisa Matilla) arranges to meet Sergio (Alberto San Juan), a nervous virgin, and ends up instead with Pedro, a young student (Carlos Fuentes) who fancies himself as a film director. After nearly being run down by him, Silvia (Mercé Pons), highly-strung actress tries to get a temperamental producer (Georges Corraface) to give her an audition.
In the same diner where this takes place, the diner's owner (Alberto San Juan) rebuffs the advances of his fiancée's underage sister, while said fiancée, Amor (Silke Klein) goes shopping and gets repeatedly robbed. Amor eventually gets tangled up with Roma (Cora Tiedra) and a love-struck policeman (Roberto Álamo).
Meanwhile, Miguel (Jesús Cabrero), a hunky gigolo, trysts with Marga, (Concha Valasco), an older woman who is unhappily married, while Miguel's gay roommate, Benjamín (Miguel García), takes advantage of a case of mistaken identity to have sex with a horny flamenco dancer (Victor Ullate Jr.). Tatiana ends up taking sex advice from Máximo (Armando del Río), the easygoing gay guy, and the original man who missed his computer date with the flamenco dancer.
At first glance, all the connections may seem a little confusing, but the pacing is steady and the characters larger than life, so you never have that much trouble following all the diverse episodes. There are also various subplots that effectively bounce off each intersection of the characters: Marga discovers she has a long-abandoned child; Pedro gives Tatiana a makeover from a cheap to a high-priced whore; and Máximo has a strange transformation into some kind of real, rather than figurative, guardian angel.
As with a lot of films that come out of Spain, Km.0 has a great deal of excessively overt confessional dialogue, so viewers who don't speak Spanish really have to pay attention to the subtitles. I also wouldn't read much into the sexual polemics of Km.0. Is it a romantic comedy? Well, perhaps, but it's probably more of a romantic drama, where the topic of sex pops up every moment that it can.
Whatever the case, Km.0 has a refreshingly earnest sexual frankness, which is both hip and cute at the same time. And let's not forget the absolutely beautiful cast - Km.0 is totally worth watching just for all the sexy actors alone. Mike Leonard. August 05.
Fun, silly, and light
Very light. Like you won't be affected by it at all other than it is entertaining and nicely pieced-together. It goes a little awry at the end (as others have noted) but is okay overall.
There is a wonderful exaggerated song toward the last third that is my favorite part and which seems to cause everyone's fortunes to improve. If only it were that simple.
Worth a watch. Not epic. Okay overall.
Delightful romp builds on "mistaken identity" theme
"Meeting a stranger in a public place + mistaken identity = hillarity." It's a premise that has been used in romantic comedy films for 40 years, but it is given a creatively modern and deliciously diverse twist in "Km.0" (Kilometer Zero), a 2000 romantic comedy set in Madrid. Fourteen diverse people, including an engaged couple, a nervous man looking for his first sexual experience, a hooker, a would-be director and a would-be actress, a rich matron looking for a fling without her neglectful husband, a musical producer, all plan to meet someone at the landmark spot in that city at the same time, and everyone ends up spending time with someone other than who they planned to meet.
It's a fast-paced, creative and warmly captivating farce, showing how people's lives can unexpectedly intersect and affect each other for good. The characters, and the actors that play them, are genuine and likeable, and the direction and photography are excellent. If there is to be one central moral of the story, it must be "Life goes on...and so do you", with subplots involving reluctant grooms, a mother-and-son "reunion" that doesn't go as she planned, one that could be titled "Queer Guardian Angel for the Straight Guy," and kind of a reverse "Pretty Woman" story. Not a gay film, but the gay characterizations are positive and endearing. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Despite a slow weird beginning I enjoyed this movie more than words can say. It was funny weird, thought pervoking and it left me feeling really good despite some real life situations that were not always happy. I could identify with the mormon dude since I know well his pain having come from a strict hardcore Bible Thumping BAPTIST family myself. Trust me "Baptist's" are no more accepting or tolerant of gays or gay friendly folk than the religious neanderthals seen in this movie.
Despite the religious homophobic downers this was my kind of movie it had a happy ending I could honestly beleive. This movie left me happy and filled with hope. The unrated version has the steamier sex scene but what you see is pretty tame by todays standards. I would not recommend this... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Steve Sandvoss - Wes Ramsey - Amber Benson - Jacqueline Bisset - Mary Kay Place Director(s): C. Jay Cox DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Grande Ecole merges the delirious ogling of naked flesh with highfalutin' cultural theory from abstruse thinkers like Michel Foucoult--a whiplash-inducing combination that could only come from the French. Paul (Gergori Baquet), a middle-class student, arrives at a snooty economics school and finds himself lusting after his new roommate, the upper-class Louis-Arnault (Jocelyn Quivrin)--even though Paul already has a hot-and-heavy relationship with his luscious girlfriend Agnes (Alice Taglioni). Paul's sexual confusion leads him into an affair with a handsome Arab groundskeeper named Mecir (Salim Kechiouche), who falls helplessly in love with Paul. Grande Ecole awkwardly combines race and class consciousness, the defense of a death-row inmate in Texas, and an... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Robert Salis DVD Release Date: Released the 09 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This is a quality movie, superb in every way, theme, character, pace, settings, and truly wonderful acting. Don't miss it! More Info about this DVD Director(s): Christian Faure DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Smart, witty and endlessly sly, Eloy de la Iglesia's Bulgarian Lovers is lots of extraordinary and unexpected fun. With its themes of love, money, and what we do for lust, the film takes the viewer on an almost surreal journey through the life of the loveable Daniel (Fernando Guillén Cuervo), a wealthy, spoilt, middle-aged, but attractive businessman who falls for Kyril (Dritan Biba), a hunky, muscular, sexy Bulgarian. Daniel is a well-adjusted gay guy who frequents the Madrid party scene surrounding himself with a bunch of fluttery gay men who constantly camp it up, swoon over the Bulgarian hunks, and chatter incessantly about their latest boyfriends.
Kyril is looking for a wealthy sugar daddy to look after him, someone who can shower him with money and presents while also... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Eloy de la Iglesia DVD Release Date: Released the 19 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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