Smoking Room (2002) Reviews

• True!

  jrgirones2002-08-19

  A combative office-worker is recollecting signatures. People are not allowed to smoke in the building, so he wants to ask the bosses to habilitate a smoking room. It seems logical and his colleagues praise the initiative. But actually what comes next reveals the fierce individualism, selfishness and cowardice that each one hide under their white collar. "Smoking Room" is probably the best Spanish movie of the year: thought-provoking and filmed with coherence and style. The story is brought to images in a way that reminds me neorealism: the austerity of every shot, the claustrophobic atmosphere and the scrutiny of every actor face in extremely close-up is amazingly related with the content the films deals with and makes the whole picture ring so true to the viewer. This has to be remarked while "Smoking Room" is a directorial film debut and both Gual and Wallovits come from the Advertisement business. One would have expect something more stylish, even superficial as a consequence of that, and instead Gual and Wallovits surprise us with a proof of talent that shows more coherence, bravery and sense of the "mise en scene" than any experimented director with a big budget to work with. The screenplay, also written by Gual and Wallovits, begins with a simple action of an idealist worker. That's a simple but brilliant idea that permits the writers to focus on every character in a magistral way, with dialogues that may seem trivial but are rich in psychological meaning. As the minimum plot unfolds, the situation grows dark and tense. The characters show the worst of themselves and confront each other, but strangely enough, they don't appear as monsters: only like human beings, with all they misery and highness, too, as the end sequence of the film intends to remark. As you may have guessed, in a film like this the cast performances are very important and in fact is impossible to review "Smoking Room" without referring to the enormous talent of every actor in the cast. They are simply superb, extraordinary believable. And not only that, they have proved to be great professionals as they starred in this film almost without receiving any money in return. And I can assure you they are not beginners. Strongly recommended!

• Real side of spaniards grey clerks

  jamp20012004-11-06

  Rejected for exhibition in USA for his violence (?!), it shows the very real day to day (its located in my city and I have worked in environments like this) of an office in the "ensanche" of barcelona. Similar to "Glengarry Glenrose" but, perhaps more "metaphisical" according to his directors, because the screenplay is almost inexistent. Good for Americans that want to know how his companies (unfortunatly?)deal with workers in a friend country and lovers of cinema-verité. Irregular acting with sublime moments (like in the ceiling shot). SPOILER The end, according to the directors is ambiguous and can have the two obvious meanings.

• A must

  clientesindignados2003-10-01

  This movie has several interesting sides. Recorded in digital video, it was produced under a low budget with good performers and was the first work of these directors with no prior experience, even in short movies (none that I have found, at least). The story presents the relationships amongst a group of workers in the Spanish headquarters of an American company. The non-smoking policy forces smokers to put up with smoking outside the facilities. This makes one of them take the initiative of lobbying for a smoking room. The campaign triggers a crisis among staff, revealing the frustrations and pathologies of working life, the envy, the relations of power and mainly the hipocresy and cinicism surrounding working life in corporate environments. By focusing on the personalities of the different characters the film captures the essence of insolidarity belonging in competitive enivironments, the tragic lives of the underachievers and the extent to which ambition is able to run over moral values. The aparently simple subject of collecting signatures for a smoking room, becomes in this movie an epic adventure with unpredictable results. The story puts in question the working lives we lead and the ambitions that drive our western societies. This movie was created with independent producers and has won with relevant awards. It is not only a superb film but one with a superb script and an imaginative artistical direction.

• Almost Dogma

  cabaleiro2003-03-13

  This is not bad "nearly dogma film" about the sad life of the workers of an enterprise where it's been prohibited to smoke. With this argument, we get into lot of penuries they live. The best of the film is the oppressive environment that it creates, but, as worst think, I would say that I'm actually surprised about not hearing a word about the (as my opinion) obvious plagiarism to the theatre work "Después de la lluvia" ("After de rain") by Sergi Berbel, not mentioned, of course, on the credits.

• Excellent movie

  finitodistampare2005-08-20

  I give this movie 10 out of 10 and I will explain why. The actors'work is first rate , outstanding performances . Some great Spanish actors are in it like Juan Diego (Javier Bardem called him his idol so go figure ..), Eduard Fernandez (an excellent performer) , Antonio Dechent and others. This film received the Spanish Goya award for best new director , the Malaga Film Festival gave the award of best screenplay , best performance of a group of actors and the Jury prize to this film . The most important thing in this film is not the question if somebody can have a smoking room in a business ofice. The interesting thing about this film are the moral issues .The dialogue is so inspired that it is almost unbelievable. Maybe this is not a masterpiece but it will make you think after you watch it.