''After'' is a 2009 Spanish drama film directed by Alberto Rodríguez which stars Guillermo Toledo, Tristán Ulloa and Blanca Romero.

Plot

The plot tracks three friends (Julio, Manuel and Ana) nearing their forties with a sort of Peter Pan syndrome and lives full of full of dissatisfaction and loneliness. After they meet up, they embark on an attempt to enjoy the night full of sex, drugs and alcohol.

Cast

Production

The film is a Tesela PC and La Zanfoña Producciones production. Featuring a budget of around €2.5 million, filming began on 23 June 2008 and wrapped in September 2008. It was fully shot in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Release

''After'' screened at the 4th

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. From 2022, the festival was officially recognized as a competitive festival by the Internation ...

on 17 October 2009. Distributed by Alta Films, it was theatrically released in Spain on 23 October 2009.

Reception

Javier Ocaña of ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' wrote that Rodríguez's remarkable fourth feature film, consisting of "a journey into the depths of the night", and "led by three superb performances", is a collection of highly effective (even if sometimes overly marked) symbols. Sergio F. Pinilla of '' Cinemanía'' scored 4 out of 5 stars, summing the film to be "a new generational portrait that revolves around the vertices of an isosceles triangle fumigated by sex, drugs and alcohol", knowing "how to transmit the uneasiness, sensuality and truth of a generation that is emotionally hopeless". Robert Koehler of '' Variety'' assessed that the "aggressively vapid" film "is acid noir with a flashy surface", offering "little except examples of how not to live". Manuel J. Lombardo of ''

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It i ...

'' wrote that Rodríguez's realistic style is blurred (Seville "never looked so ghostly"), while, vis-à-vis the performances, he pointed out that Guillermo Toledo's lysergic excesses are offset by Tristán Ulloa's neat academic restraint", while Blanca Romero comes out successful of her portrayal of chronic dissatisfaction.

Accolades

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Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...

, , Rafael Cobos, Alberto Rodríguez , , , , rowspan = "3" , , - , Best New Actress , , Blanca Romero , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Alex Catalán , ,

References

{{reflist 2009 drama films 2009 films Spanish drama films Films set in Seville Films shot in the province of Seville 2000s Spanish-language films 2000s Spanish films