20 Centimeters (2006)

Simply A Masterpiece

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Thanks to Pedro Almodovar, Spain has birthed more directors who have explored the fluidity between the sexes in some truly groundbreaking movies. Now comes Ramon Salazar who recruits Rossy de Palma, an Almodovarian veteran, in a small but crucial part, and an actress previously seen in CRIMEN FERPECTO, Monica Cervera. Both have the physicalities suited for the nature of the roles they are playing -- with their androgynous faces, they actually do look like men on the verge of being female (which, actually, is what de Palma's character has already become). Both are women of the night, looking for a quick fix to give them enough cash to get through their petty existences. Only that Marieta (Cervera) suffers from narcolepsy, and when she passes out, she moves into the realms of camera! lights! action! and the world fills with pop tunes in both English and Spanish. In these musicals, she is the star at the center, she is the focus of everyone's attention and the object of total adulation.Not an original move -- it's been done before, most recently in CHICAGO where the musical numbers all occurred within Roxie Hart's mind and she didn't have to pass out for them to take place -- but 20 CENTIMETROS is a daring piece of work. It does to the genre what TRANSAMERICA started, by bringing a subject that has a long way to go still in terms of discussion and acceptance and bringing it to the spotlight (literally) under the form of a woman who is also on the down-and-out and needs that extra money to be able to "break free" as the musical number late in the film -- a Queen song Marieta performs -- points at. What TRANSAMERICA didn't do, and this movie certainly does, is flip the roles between the sexes and give Marieta the dominating power in all of her sexual encounters. It only shows how different the European position on the issue is -- where Americans still tend to emasculate men in this position in order to establish what is traditional and non-traditional, Europeans could care less about "who's on top, who's on bottom" and when Marieta falls for a hunk (Pablo Puyol) who has a penchant for being on the submissive side of her 20 centimeters (for lack of a better term), roles fly out the window real quick.However, it's here where the movie somehow fails... if both Marieta and her Man are happy with each other, her insistence on crossing the ultimate line seems a little selfish. However, having seen several documentaries on the subject of male-to-female transsexuals, their issues go much deeper than that. So it's possible to assume that both Marieta and her Guy are two people who are almost right for each other. Just not quite. At least, in this way, 20 CENTIMETROS doesn't become an exercise in schmaltzy happiness, but still -- somehow I believe it would have been even more groundbreaking to leave things as they were between the two characters (since the movie invests a wallop in establishing how right they are for each other and both actors do manage to create an intense couple) and not make Marieta so pig-headed in her quest for femininity. After all, her Guy does accept her as she is. It's too bad she cannot do the same.

This is one of the most godawful pieces of Euro trash dreck ever to come across the pond. It makes no sense, there is no acting, there is no characterization, there is surely no motivation, and the plot is about as limp as overcooked pasta. The Spanish have been putting out some pretty bad movies lately, but this one's brow is so low you'd have to dig up the floorboards to see it. The intercutting of the so-called "musical numbers" is the only slightly charming feature of this snoozer -- and I say slightly because the choreography is repetitive and dull (about what you'd expect from a high-school production of *Grease*) and after about the third pointless "here we burst into song," you'll want to open a vein rather than sit through more camping and mugging. On a technical note: The sound on the DVD is pretty bad, but maybe that's a good point. The less you hear, the happier you'll be.

Ramón Salazar's directed this movie-with-music and I do not particularly like what he has done with it. The story is not that spectacular (transsexual wants operation to remove his penis) but very thin indeed so extra drama on the side is needed and added to fill a whole movie. Too many sidelines and extra, needless information is given. The switches to the musical scenes are not that brilliant -it's quite logic to have them when Marieta has her narcoleptic attack but there are a few out of the blue and they don't move me. Could be the singing and dancing of Leading Lady Mónica Cervera -I am not that much impressed with her at all. Of course we're spoiled after The Singing Detective and -more recent- Moulin Rouge or Chicago. It's a must for a director to follow one's own path but one can't behave like those movies were never made! The movie is not bizarre enough for me -but the subject should be. The choices Salazar made are a bit on the safe side and they miss a bizarre kind of fantasy.The good bits: Chevi Muraday made very nice choreography's. Suggestive or just festive: very nice work indeed. Pleased to see that dancers can act as Pablo Puyol proves. Without any shamelessness at all he acts and dances his way through this movie. Bravo. The bests scenes are for the lady's at Marieta's apartment! Wonderful characters indeed played by Spain's finest actresses. Brava. I'm sorry but I can't find the name of the elderly actress who plays Marieta's hormone-shot-giving friend. During her telephone conversation we can see a photograph of her at young age -and that scene is just a little miracle -it moved me to tears. Bravo Salazar. Could have lasted longer.Pieter

After a promising short film ("Hongos") and an excellent feature length debut ("Piedras"), director-writer Ramón Salazar surprises all with "20 centímetros", a compelling musical which won't leave anyone indifferent.Certainly this is not for all tastes. Instead of taking the easy way out of mixing musical and comedy, Salazar chooses drama and depicts the sub-world of prostitution with such a raw perspective that many people felt extremely uncomfortable during the film. "20 centímetros" is, after all, the love child of Von Trier's "Dancer in the dark" and early Almodóvar. As I said, not for all tastes.Mónica Cervera, who was in Salazar's previous directorial efforts, is the star of the film, and she really shines in her one-woman-show. She sings her heart out and gives a terrific performance as Marieta, the transvestite hooker who dreams musical sequences in which she is the sole star. Other cast members include Lola Dueñas, Rossy de Palma and Najwa Nimri in brief roles, and also Pilar Bardem in a cameo. Unknowns Concha Galán and Miguel O'Dogherty play pivotal roles in this eclectic musical. Pablo Puyol, Marieta's leading man, plays Reponedor, a simpleton, gracefully and shows that he could surprise everybody if he's given the right chance.What I liked most were the musical numbers, though. Some of them are extremely effective in narrative terms "Parole, parole, parole", and others are so well made that it doesn't matter if they don't add anything story-wise ("Quiero ser santa" is a prodigy of make-up, scenery and costume). My favorite, however, is the one in which Marieta and Reponedor sing a song each at the same time.If you are willing for something new give "20 centímetros" a chance, specially if you like musicals and you are not afraid to watch some of the most marginal strata of our society. Also, watch it for the great performance of Mónica Cervera, an actress that could be huge in the future.