''Casual Day'' is a 2007 Spanish dark workplace comedy film directed by Max Lemcke. The

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

features

Juan Diego Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474–1548), also known simply as Juan Diego (), was a Nahua peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill o ...

, Luis Tosar,

Estíbaliz Gabilondo Estíbaliz "Esti" Gabilondo Cuéllar (born 16 November 1976 in San Sebastián) is a Spanish actress and journalist. She is niece of the former Ministry of Education (Spain), Minister of Education Ángel Gabilondo, and the journalist Iñaki Gabil ...

Arturo Valls Arturo Valls Mollà (born 24 March 1975) is a Spanish actor, primarily featured in comedy roles, as well as television presenter. He became popular for his performance in the comedy series '' Camera Café'' from 2005 to 2009, and for presenting t ...

, Alberto San Juan, Malena Alterio,

Álex Angulo Alejandro Angulo León (12 April 1953 – 20 July 2014), better known as Álex Angulo, was a Spanish actor who performed in over sixty films during his career spanning more than 30 years. Life Born in Erandio, Biscay, Angulo made his feature ...

, Carlos Kaniowsky,

Secun de la Rosa Secundino "Secun" de la Rosa Márquez (born 23 December 1969) is a Spanish actor and theatre author and theatre director, director. Biography Secundino Benjamín Juan de la Rosa Márquez Ailagas de Carvajal was born in Barcelona on 23 Decembe ...

, Marta Etura and Mikel Losada.

Plot

Ruy is a young man who has always had it easy. But José Antonio, the father of his girlfriend Inés, gets him a job promotion in the company as José Antonio wants to groom Ruy as his successor, even if Ruy actually wants to dump Inés, so he finds himself cornered.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was penned by Pablo and Daniel Remón. A Monfort Producciones,

Telecinco Cinema Telecinco Cinema, S.A.U. is the film production division of Mediaset España. It produces both feature films and television films. History Telecinco Cinema is a subsidiary film company of Mediaset España. Formerly known as Estudios Picasso, the ...

and Videntia Frames production, the film was shot in between

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Amasa Amasa (עמשא) or Amessai is a person mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. His mother was Abigail (), a sister of King David (). Hence, Amasa was a nephew of David, and cousin of Joab, David's military commander, as well as a cousin of Absalom, ...

(

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

). Shooting wrapped in 2006.

Release

The film premiered at the

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...

in September 2007. It also screened at the

Gothenburg Film Festival Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the large ...

, the Miami Film Festival and the Málaga Spanish Film Festival. It was theatrically released in Spain on 9 May 2008.

Reception

Reviewing for ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is a Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó ...

'', Mirito Torreiro rated ''Casual Day'' with 4 out of 5 stars, drawing out the entire cast, "without exception", to be the best thing about the film, assessing it to be "a stimulating ''opera prima'' that sheds light on the real situation of labour relations".

Javier Ocaña Javier Ocaña (born 1971) is a Spanish film critic. Life and career Ocaña was born in 1971 in Martos, province of Jaén. He earned a licentiate degree in law from the University of Granada and a master's degree in journalism from the Autonomo ...

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 ...

'' deemed the film to be a "choral portrait of private and public contempt as stark as it is humorous, performed by a magnificent group of comedians", "written with precision, simplicity and an extremely dark sense of humour".

Accolades

, - , align = "center" rowspan = "7" , 2009 , , rowspan = "7" , 64th CEC Medals , , colspan = "2" , Best Film , , , , rowspan = "7" , , - , Best Director , , Max Lemcke , , , - , Best Actor , , Juan Diego , , , - , Best Supporting Actor , , Luis Tosar , , , - , Best Supporting Actress , , Estíbaliz Gabilondo , , , - , Best Original Screenplay , , Daniel Remón, Pablo Remón , , , - , Best Newcomer , , Max Lemcke , ,

References

{{authority control Workplace comedy films 2007 films Spanish black comedy films 2007 black comedy films Films shot in Madrid Films shot in the Basque Country (autonomous community) 2000s Spanish films 2000s Spanish-language films Buena Vista International films