''Loreak'', released in the US as ''Flowers'', is a 2014 Basque-language Spanish

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga. It premiered in the Official Section of the 2014

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in ...

, and was also screened at the 2014

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

, the 2014

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, secon ...

, the 2014

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be th ...

and the 2015

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

. It became the first Basque language film nominated for the

Goya Award The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sci ...

for Best Film. It was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

88th Academy Awards The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Du ...

, being the first Basque language film to do it, but it was not nominated.

Plot

Ane (played by Nagore Aranburu) is a woman in her early forties who does not feel fulfilled. Her life changes when she starts to receive bouquets of flowers at home anonymously, once a week. The lives of Lourdes (Itziar Ituño) and Tere (Itziar Aizpuru) are also altered by some mysterious flowers. A stranger leaves flowers every week in memory of someone who was important for them.

Cast

*Nagore Aranburu as Ane * Itziar Ituño as Lourdes *Itziar Aizpuru as Tere *Josean Bengoetxea as Beñat *Egoitz Lasa as Ander *Ane Gabarain as Jaione *José Ramón Soroiz as Txema *Jox Berasategi as Jexus

Critical reception

Loreak was met with positive reviews by critics. Jonathan Holland of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' praised it for being "as beguiling and beautifully structured as the flowers of its title" and said it "absolutely deserves wider exposure". Jay Weissberg of '' Variety'' called the film "beautifully cast" and "an affecting story of loss and the ways people cope". Lluís Bonet Mojica of ''

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

'', who gave Loreak a five-star review, noted that it is a "film where nothing happens and everything happens". Oti Rodríguez Marchante of '' ABC'' described the film as a "moving and delicate melodrama". On the mixed side, Andrea G. Bermejo of ''Cinemanía'' gave Loreak 3.5 stars out of five and observed that "by means of so much perfection ..the result loses some spontaneity, some audacity, and perhaps, some weight".

Awards and nominations

References

External links