Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 09/27/2002(Spain),
Release Date: 10/21/2008
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: Espanol
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 113 Minutes
Flags: Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Lionsgate
Set in the Spanish port city of Vigo,
Fernando León de Aranoa's
Mondays in the Sun is a touching
drama about a group of working-class men who find themselves suddenly unemployed and unwanted in their middle age. Laid off from the local shipyard, the men spend their days at the town bar, where they reminisce, philosophize, and commiserate about their current state. Gruff
Santa (a bearded
Javier Bardem) puts up a tough front, refusing to sink into self-pity, and occasionally pricking his friends' hopes. Morose
José (
Luis Tosar) openly worries about his wife, whom he fears might leave him. That seems to have been the fate of
Amador (
Celso Bugallo), the oldest of the bunch, who keeps reassuring everyone that his wife will be back any day now from her trip. Meanwhile,
Lino (
José Ángel Egido) refuses to give up hope of employment, going to interview after interview for jobs being offered to applicants half his age. Presiding over the glum bunch is
Rico (
Joaquín Climent), the bar owner and the men's co-worker from the shipyard days. Despite its depressing subject and downbeat mood,
Mondays in the Sun was a big winner at the 2003 Goya Awards, Spain's equivalent of the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for
Bardem. The film was also Spain's surprise representative for the 2003 Oscars' Foreign Language film category, nabbing the distinction over
Pedro Almodóvar's critically lauded
Talk to Her.
~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide