Film Reviews

Take My Eyes

• Rating:
• Director: Iciar Bollain.
• Starring: Laia Marull, Luis Tosar, Candela Pena, Rosa Maria Sarda, Kiti Manver, Sergi Calleja, Dave Mooney, Nicolas Fernandez Luna.
• Details: Spa/ 109 mins/ (no cert).

Wildly popular in its native Spain, Take My Eyes is a low-key drama which centres on the subject of domestic abuse. Pilar (Marull) is so terrified of her obnoxious, hard drinking husband Antonio (Tosar) that she decides to take her son (Luna) and leave him. Going to stay with her sister, Ana (Pena), Pilar has to decide whether to build a new life for herself or help her husband to change his ways. Ana, who is about to walk down the aisle with a Scotsman (Mooney) believes that Antonio will never change his ways, while the women's elderly mother thinks that her daughter shouldn't be so quick to leave her hubby. After all, where will she find another one? Though the topic up for examination is hardly a fresh one, Bollain's approach is admirable, maintaining attentions very much on the subject at hand and allowing the characters' motivations to become clear (er) as the film unravels. Occasionally Bollain is guilty of slipping into Hollywoodisms and cliche, and the film has a very static feel about it. But the tone is, for the most part, well measured and the performances, especially from Marull and Tosar, feel authentic.

Review by Garreth Murphy