The Night of the Sunflowers (2006)

the audience applauded

Thanks for the memories!

hyped garbage

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

"La noche de los girasoles" begins with a meeting by chance, between a rapist and murderer, and his next victim. The rapist will try to victimize a young woman, and who she is and where it all takes place play a decisive part in the violent events that will ensue.So this movie has several strong points. One of them is showing how someone completely unrelated to the rest of the main characters of the story, someone who meets one of those people (the young woman) by chance, can be the trigger for all we're about to see. Then, the structure is very attractive too, as the director tries to make full portraits of each important character and show us, not only what they're doing there, but where they come from, in every sense; he shows us what that person is like, their personality and motivations, and what they want, basically; then he drops that character into the spiral of events that have been started by the attack to the young woman, and so comes this suspenseful story, involving two speleologists, the girlfriend of their leader, a very honest and stern old cop and a dishonest, corrupt young one, and two old men who live in an otherwise derelict village.Something else I liked about the movie is the fact that it shows how absurd and ungrounded violence is; all acts of violence in the movie are completely gratuitous and coming solely from human primal instincts. The violence comes from a lack of communication and a desire for power and beating the opponent.As is the case with many Spanish movies, the ending lacks momentum and power, but works quite well, in any case, and makes much sense.

This film is worth to watch. cause it contains a lot about people's emotions and their reactions when they had a trouble.But for the most of all I really like the elder men's characters such as the police man, and the 2 men who are living in the useless land. their action was really great, especially those two friends who are always arguing each other. They are so cute and wise even though they are lack of power and physical energy.this film consists of quite lots of different stories and the characters in one small place in Spain. Near the San martin station. I am not sure where is it but the scenery of this film's background seems so nice and gives you some pictures of sunshiny Spain. at first the story seems extends a lot from the first story to another story and it also gives you some wondering how those stories gonna be connected. But don't worry, escape from the audience's wondering this film's different stories are quite close and connected in a good logic.This film reminds me one south Korean film that calls as 'Memory of murderer' and one Spanish film that is 'Volver'. That is because of the same item of those films that is especially those film's essential item is girl/woman's sexual harassment. and the way of solution of those films is that they show the whole story in the ending part of the film. They don't show everything in the first part. so that is how they can hold the audiences till the end of the film. and one more thing of this film, that is about the title of this film. the meaning and the nuisance of the concept 'night' is quite 'suspicious'. you don't know what is happening at the night time cause of course it is because of the darkness. So many accidents happen at the night time. and the police man try to find the right answer at the day time when everything is bright. so that is why this film's title has the word, night. and the sunflower is the part of the film's background place. that is quite beautiful and I hope that I could see more of the sunflower but that was only for the just first scene of the film. and I also like the music that is quite part of Spanish culture. I don't know exactly what kind of genre it is. But that music is really fit to that film. what I am talking about is the tango music when the elder man drinking alcohol and reminds his family through the pictures and he turns on the LP music. and the ending scene there is one more music that also feels so good.

what's with those sunflowers? Well, never mind; The Night of Whatever is a beautiful film despite a slightly uneven plot that permits an aging and brilliantly acted Spanish equivalent of Lieutenant Columbo, LAPD, to dominate the last third of a film otherwise promising to catch a multitude of balls thrown into the air at the outset. "Sunflowers" is related (and can hold a candle) to films like "Crash" and "Babel" by its non-linear narrative and its description of the fatal encounters of hitherto unrelated characters. It's the film's great forte is that we actually get involved with them. The central scene in which an innocent old man is killed by our protagonists who act in the belief that he has brutally raped a young woman is stunning. We are beyond language in this scene - the characters act blindly - an mutely - on the wrong assumptions; a horrible act committed by decent, mistaken people. It may be compared with the gruesome burial of Dan Hedaya in Coen's "Blood Simple". "The Night of the Sunflowers" is definitely worth watching, and a Spanish more-mainstream alternative to Almodóvar.

'The Night of the Sunflowers' is a superior Spanish thriller, telling the story of the tragic aftermath of an attack on a woman, and set against the backdrop of a dying, depopulated rural town. Technically, the film's merits include an evocative score, the subtle use of visual clues, and unmelodramatic acting. But perhaps the strongest aspect of the movie is the way it allows the viewer to see events from different perspectives, and thereby not only drives the evolution of the story, but also gives it a truly three-dimensional quality. The film begins with a segment which, nearing its end, savagely reverses the audience's expectations and sympathies; and thereafter, the story is told in achronological, overlapping fragments, each one offering a different perspective on events. And because of its technical merits, the film's use of this device never damages the naturalistic mood. As events reach their conclusion, you find yourself really caring about the characters, even the ostensibly unattractive ones. 'The Night of the Sunflowers' is a fine film, that never tries to pretend to be more than it is, but which offers rewards through the care with which it portrays its world.