''Rainbow'' is a 2022 Spanish

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by

Paco León Francisco León Barrios (born 4 October 1974), known as Paco León () is a Spanish actor, producer, director, screenwriter and activist. Born in Seville, León began his career in television comedy roles in Andalusian regional productions. Follo ...

, loosely based on

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

's 1900 novel ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the ma ...

''. The film stars Dora Postigo, Áyax Pedrosa, Wekaforé Jibril (Spirit Disco),

Carmen Maura María del Carmen García Maura (born 15 September 1945) is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, she has starred in films such as '' Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'', '' ¡Ay Carmela!'', '' Common Wealth'', an ...

Carmen Machi María del Carmen Machi Arroyo (born 7 January 1963) is a Spanish actress. She become popular for her role as Aída in the television series ''7 vidas'' and ''Aída''. Biography María del Carmen Machi Arroyo was born on 7 January 1963 in Madr ...

and Luis Bermejo. The film premiered at the

70th San Sebastián International Film Festival The 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 16 to 24 September 2022 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The awards were announced on 24 September 2022, with '' The Kings of the World'' winning the Golden Shell. Backgroun ...

on 18 September 2022. It later received a release in select theatres in Spain on 23 September 2022, and a streaming debut on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on 30 September.

Premise

The film, "not a musical film" but featuring "a lot of music" according to Paco León, follows the

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

story of a teenager with an extraordinary musical talent ( Dora) leaving home alongside her dog Toto upon a quarrel with her father Diego, embarking on a journey to 'Ciudad Capital'.

Cast

Production

''Rainbow'' is inspired on

's ''

''.

co-wrote the screenplay alongside Javier Gullón, and is also credited as producer. Produced by

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 ...

in collaboration with Los amigos de Dorothy AIE, and the participation of Andy Joke and Colosé Producciones, filming began on 2 August 2021. Shooting locations included the

Madrid region The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

and the provinces of

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

and

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. Netflix reported the wrap in October 2021. Other crew duties were entrusted to Marc Miró (cinematography), and Ana Álvarez-Ossorio (editing), whereas Diego Postigo helmed the coordination of the musical production.

Release

The film had its

world premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film ...

at the

's 'Velodrome' section on 18 September 2022. It was released in select theatres on 23 September 2022, followed by a worldwide release on Netflix streaming on 30 September 2022.

Reception

Fernando Bernal of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' rated the film 1 out of 5 stars, writing that León's "road movie never manages to pick up speed" and its sequences "falter within their own rhythm". Elsa Fernández-Santos 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 about a film "capable of both the best and the worst", featuring an awry catharsis somewhat amended by a beautiful epilogue, resulting into an "uneven and largely botched film", even if having the courage to look to the future". Raquel Hernández Luján of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1991. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' scored 40 out of 100 points ("bad"), deeming it to be an "immature and pretentious" proposal, with "clumsy" metaphors, and a final party that ends up becoming "irritating". John Serba of ''

Decider.com The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost.com; PageSix.com, a gossip site; and Decider.com, an entertainm ...

'' considered that the film "boasts enough compelling and creative pieces and parts to merit a recommendation, even if they don't quite come together as a whole".

Accolades

, - , rowspan = "2" align = "center" , 2023 , , rowspan = "2" , 2nd Carmen Awards , , Best Adapted Screenplay , , Paco León, Javier Gullón , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best New Actor , , Ayax Pedrosa , ,

References

External links

* * {{authority control 2022 drama films 2022 films 2022 fantasy films 2020s coming-of-age drama films 2020s fantasy drama films 2020s Spanish films 2020s Spanish-language films Films based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Magic realism films Films shot in the Community of Madrid Films shot in the province of Guadalajara Films shot in the province of Segovia Films shot in the province of Toledo Spanish coming-of-age drama films Spanish fantasy drama films Netflix original films Spanish-language fantasy drama films Telecinco Cinema films Films with screenplays by Javier Gullón