The City of No Limits (2002)

Pretty Good

Perfect cast and a good story

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

¨The city of no limits¨ is a beautiful story and haunting drama , dealing with a hidden truth . This is a co-production Argentina/Spain/France , being well paced , skillfully edited and suspenseful . It is plenty of thrills , intense drama , twists and turns and is pretty interesting . It talks about Victor (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a young who gets to Paris to unite his brothers (Roberto Alvarez , Alex Casanovas , Adriana Ozores , Ana Fernandez) and mother (Geraldine Chaplin) around their seriously ill daddy named Max (marvelous , as always , Fernando Fernan Gomez) . As the chance of selling the family business about pharmaceutic laboratory begins to disrupt the family relationships , Victor is desperately asked for help by Max . What seems in the beginning mere delusions of an old man losing his mind , begin to show clues of a strange secret may be true . Victor decides to help his dad to resolve that something he is searching for.Interesting Spanish film plenty of thrills , emotion , suspense , intrigue , plot twists and being pretty entertaining . The picture profits itself from a top-drawer plethora of players who give exacting interpretations . Suspenseful from start to finish and dealing with some sort of real 'secret' that is troubling Max/Fernando Fernan Gomez's last days , while Victor/Leonardo Sbaraglia is trying to find it out . Exciting and thought-provoking plot by Enrique Braso and the same filmmaker Antonio Hernandez that deservedly had Goya Award Winner best screenplay . Excellent support actors formed by a Spanish all-star-cast such as Ana Fernández as Carmen , Adriana Ozores as Pilar , Roberto Álvarez as Luis , Àlex Casanovas as Alberto , Mónica Estarreado as Beatriz ; furthermore , South American players as Leticia Bredice , Alfredo Alcón as Rancel and director Cameo , Antonio Hernández as friend of Rancel , although credited, may pass unnoticed. Special mention to wonderful musical score , Victor Reyes composes a thrilling and touching soundtrack that is one of the best parts of the film . Colorful and luxurious cinematography by Unax Mendia . The motion picture was stunningly directed by Antonio Hernandez . Antonio is a good craftsman , writer , producer and occasionally actor . Antonio Hernández -whose first film, 1979's F.E.N., is one of those never praised enough hidden masterpieces of Spanish cinema- is expert on all kind of genres , such as comedy ¨Apaga y Vamonos , Como Levantar 1000 Kilos , Menor de Males¨ , Historical , ¨Los Borgia¨ , and Thriller ¨ Oculto , Lisboa , The city of no limits¨. And he also directs TV series such as ¨Tarancon , Sofia and Dias sin Luz¨ . In ¨City of no limits¨ Antonio proves to be a very courageous auteur , shooting a magnificent picture .

"You must find the way out", declares the tagline. It's, with one simple look, referring to the movie's title; "The City of No Limits", and how to get away from it. That's how you would imagine, but it's much more complex. It's a way out of problems and situations involving a family…A way to show what happens when a family is separated for a long time and meets again.I decided to watch this movie, mainly, because I saw Leticia Brédice's name somewhere. She's probably my favorite Argentinean actress and I love to see her in movies (because she also works in television). I considered that reason enough, but I was glad I found Leonardo Sbaraglia too. He's an excellent character actor that was born in Argentina but, like many others, tried luck in Spain and did many movies in both countries."En la ciudad sin límites" is a co-production between Spain and Argentina…This co-productions fail almost all the times, because the writers have to invent plot elements to set locations in any of those countries. But not this movie…This movie is set mostly in France…It includes characters living in Argentina, in Spain, but once the family is reunited, it's France.Director Antonio Hernández takes great advantage of this, and his camera travels through Paris' streets, from building to building, from house to house, from hotel to hotel; even when the main situations occur in a hospital floor…Less, a hospital room. In this room, Max (Fernando Fernán Gómez) is dying and this joins the whole family together. Spanish and French words are spoken all over by different and peculiar characters; in an objective demonstration of how life goes round and round. It happens with my family today. I have family in France, in Peru, in Venezuela, in Argentina…Sometimes it happens that events join us.I won't expand on the things that all the characters experience (each of them has at least one magical moment); because in the end, even when there's a main event, there's a treatment and for every person of the family…That's what the movie makes us watch and hear. Víctor (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is Max's son and has to secretly help him find a person, Rancel (Alfredo Alcón), that probably doesn't even exists, because Max is probably going crazy, or back to the past. Víctor is married to Eileen (Leticia Brédice), and meets in the reunion with Pilar (Adriana Ozores), his brother's Alberto (Álex Casanovas) wife, and his own old lover. Luis (Roberto Álvarez) was married to Carmen (Ana Fernández) and had to children, but now they're separated and in Paris for different reasons; when Luis' girlfriend, Beatriz (Mónica Estarreado) gives a surprise visit...Marie (Geraldine Chaplin), Max's wife and the boys' mother, is quiet and lonely; also keeping something hidden.Writing is outstandingly correct, with the director and his collaborator coming up with an interesting and emotional story mixing emotions with mystery…And that's probably the film's dilemma. It has a side where it wants to work as a suspense movie, thriller; and it could have gone wrong, but it didn't because the elements are correctly combined and I managed myself to put all together in my mind as a powerful movie with all its things. In the movie's intent for the thriller genre, and the mix I'm talking about, it was difficult for the team to get the right structure. Luckily, it all came out fine indeed; with a score by Víctor Reyes that has its totally strange moments, but at the same time powerful and moving moments with inspiring melodies.The acting by the entire ensemble is decent. Sbaraglia highlights as Víctor, in a very natural performance with a lot of commitment. Adriana Ozores also highlights as Pilar, and carries some powerful scenes in her shoulders. The pros Gómez and Alcón are lovable in their characters, Chaplin gives strength to a simple Marie, Álvarez generates laughs with his Luis, Fernández goes crazy as Carmen, Casanovas makes everything look easy through Alberto's eyes, Estarreado looks as she needs to but does little as Beatriz and Brédice; well…She's still the Leticia I love to see.The film deals with some fresh strong issues in its dramatic moments; but don't be fooled. This is not a movie about prejudices and opinions about people. It's about what each human being thinks is best for it, deciding in order to get that; and those decisions can cause lots of troubles.

Some things sneak up virtually unannounced, such that when the result is far more satisfying than one might erstwhile have presupposed, the surprise is even more gratifying. Such is the case with this Argentinian-Spanish co-production, mostly filmed in Paris. On seeing the IMDb voting average my reaction was something like: `ya veremos..........'.Good interpretations by all the cast, especially by Fernando Fernán Gómez and Leonardo Sbaraglia, hold the spectator, and the film grows on you as the events unfold, admirably helped along by Víctor Reyes' music, from soft and melancholic to tense and rhythmic patterns a little in the style of Philip Glass.The old man is dying in a Parisian hospital and all the family gather around him; the youngest son, Víctor comes all the way from Argentina with his girl-friend. But it is he who begins to unravel mysteries of the past, as the old man´s mind seems to be locked on events of forty years ago.Well built-up story line, moving with logical ease from scene to scene with good characterization all round. The denouément seemed unnecessarily stretched; it could - should - have finished on the benches of the railway station; the ensuing brief scene rounding off the film is as foreseeable as unnecessary, and added nothing to what had already been stated.Geraldine Chaplin does not usually go too well with me, and so it is in this film; I think it is that ever-present British accent speaking Spanish that annoys me a little; perhaps this is only a little mania of mine, as my own accent speaking Spanish is no better!Highly recommendable film for those who look for real drama without over-the-top interpretations ` a la Hollywood' and can concentrate on the dialogues and development of a nicely filmed and told story.

A rich Spanish man is treated for a brain tumor in a Paris hospital . His family around him, fighting for the inheritance (and mutually betraying). The old man seems to have lost contact with reality, but his elder son noticing that he still has some consciousness, tries to establish a communication with him, even when that implies to get into his father madness and discover secrets nobody wants to surface.The movie is an exercise in suspense. Perfectly orchestrated situations, make you feel nervous about simple things as a walk in the hall (trying to get out of the hospital). Or make the bad guy out of a worried mother. This is just a family story with an old mystery. It is so simple that similar things happen every day but with an incredible craftsmanship was converted in a thriller.Yes, it is a thriller and a mystery. It has all the elements you usually expect; sex, betrayal, lies. No, is not what you expect. The story is clever but realistic. The violence is replaced with poetry, and as in real life, lots of things happen but few are really resolved.