Lullaby (2022) User Reviews

Personal needs versus personal responsibilities

[Sees All · 9/10 · 27 October 2023]

I knew absolutely nothing about this movie before I saw it. I only saw it because I just returned from a trip to Spain's Basque country (which I loved) and a "Basque Film Festival" was playing in my New York neighborhood. I thought this movie was terrific. At first, I thought it was going to be yet another whine about poor misunderstood and underappreciated women that the New York "non-profit" theatre has turned into a cliché. How can the poor put-upon thing handle all the stress? But, as it turned out, that's not what the movie ended up being. A young woman with a promising career has just had her first child by a man to whom she is not married. He has a promising career, too. The couple are happy, but she already feels the stress of trying to balance a relationship, a career, and a new baby all at the same time when her mate receives a lucrative job offer in another city. He thinks they can make it work, but she doesn't want him to take the job. But he does. The baby cries incessantly, despite her giving it constant attention. She goes to a coastal town to get some emotional support from her parents, but that turns out to be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, as a load of new responsibilities tumbles down upon her unexpectedly. I can't tell more without giving away key plot points, but let's just say that it would be a challenging position for anyone to handle.

Cast and direction are excellent, with especially fine performances from Lala Costa as the new mother and Susi Sanchez as HER mother. Both ladies give Oscar-worthy performances. This movie has a lot to say about strength of character, where it comes from, and how it works. If you want car chases and explosions, look elsewhere. This is not that kind of movie. But if you're looking for an intelligent and sensitive film about what it is to be human in today's world, pounce.

An amazing start to the 2023 spring season

[martinpersson97 · 10/10 · 6 January 2023]

This was a very anticipated Spanish drama, and one of the first released in the year of 2023. I expected a masterpiece, and sure wasn't disappointed.

It's a very low-key drama that surely isn't for anyone. The director tries to convey the futilities and small moments of joy in the every day life, and like the unconventional films of Italian neoralism, if you will, it deliberately isn't a very focused and tight story. I love these ground-breaking and artistic works of arts, those who could surely only be put together by a true master.

Whilst it is a very somber and slowly paced film, though, it packs some heavy and extremly well acted drama that will bring up lots of emotions.

It is a very well cinematographied, edited and acted film that kicks off the 2023 movie season in splendid fashion!

A portrait of life

[gastonpanizzalanzi · 10/10 · 20 March 2023]

Alauda Ruiz de Azua shows how a woman's life is affected by her newborn while she deals with her absent boyfriend and her mother's illness. Amaia (Laia Costa), finds herself aboslutely overwhelmed when she discovers that being a mother isn't as easy as she thought, and on top of that her child's father Javier (Mikel Bustamante) doesn't feel any preasure at all and leaves her alone. Something we later find out that happened to Amaia's mother as well when she was younger.

Finally, Amaia decides to move to her parents' house in a small town in Euskadi, where we see the usual dynamics of a couple that has no love for each other, Begoña (Susi Sánchez) and Koldo (Ramón Barea) have been married for many years but they can't stand each other.

As Begoña gets more and more ill, Amaia takes her place in the house and slowly becomes her mother, starts to see her father the way her mother does and gets angry at him. This transformation is remarkable and above all, completely realistic.

From all characters Begoña is definetely the most interesting, she's got a strong character, stubborn, sometimes bad-tempered and always subtle. As she said about her husband, «When I first met your father, he was a really quiet boy, and so I thought "How interesting!", but then it turned out that he was't able to say a thing in thirty years»

Neddless to say the excellent job carrying out a film with an actual real baby in it, an important detail that gives credibility and makes the crying and so more believable.

Another detail that is very impressive is Begoña's state trhough her illness: her hair, posture, way of walking, mood, among other aspects, truly shows the reality of a sick person like her that has changed her life from one day to the other, from being an independent woman that made her day-to-day life by herself, to be "someone to take care of".

An important thing that the film tells us is that motherhood takes sacrifice, specially when your husband doesn't care much. We constantly see how Amaia turns down job opportunities because of her situation, reconciliation of work and family life is one of the main topics. When her baby and her mother need her, she is the one to put her job aside to help.

There are a couple scenes I particularly loved, the first one happens in the kitchen when Amaia feels overwhelmed and her mother says "Look at me, I would change myself for you right now without thinking. All those lives that you don't live are always perfect, they are ideal. But at some point, you have to live the life that has been given to you".

And the second one happens at night, when Amaia hears her mother woke up and goes to help her. That hallway, the hug, the crying, picturing your hole life and looking at the very moment you're at, with the person that has cared the most about you.

Simply soulful. I thank Alauda for this wonderful film, and I urge everyone who loves her mother to watch this.

An acceptable family drama but dull as well as slowing paced and with very good acting

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 1 February 2023]

¨Cinco lobitos¨ is an overtalking and dramatic film directed by the Biscayan filmmaker Alauda Ruiz de Azúa in 2022. A women's film to reflect on motherhood in both directions , it deals with Maia (Laia Costa) , who has just become a mother . It turns out that Amaia is a 35-year-old woman who has just had her first child. In the first weeks, her partner and her parents help her . But soon her parents leave and her partner has to be absent for work reasons. Overwhelmed by the incessant task of being her mother, Amaia decides to go to her parents' house , in a town on the Basque coast. Then the world collapses on her because the baby cries , and, at one point, her boyfriend (Bustamante) has to go to earn his wages , because there is something to eat that's why he's going to work abroad. Amaia has just given birth and leaves the hospital with her mother Begoña (Susi Sanchez) . She is a new mother , and , for the first time , she realizes the changes that this new baby is going to bring. She decides to return to her parents' (Ramón Barea , Susi Sánchez) house along the Basque coast home for guidance , after her partner is temporarily away. So that Begoña and Koldo can help her take care of the girl , but then things go wrong.

This brooding and some claustrophobic picture concerns the motherhood and family relationships , being stunningly played by a splendid team of actors : Laia Costa , Susi Sánchez , Ramón Barea and Mikel Bustamante. This fact itself makes me curious enough to downplay the ordinary topics and to not be distracted . The movie has the ability to show being a mother, being a daughter , being a grandmother, being a wife, being a lover, in addition to motherhood in both directions , the change of identities within the family structure ; it also raises how is shared functions in the family unit , the way of being of those men who do not find out about the "needs of those who live together", whether they are older and old-fashioned or young or restless entrepreneurs and to add problems the grandmother falls ill and the roles are then reversed . However , what happens after the first half hour, results to be quite tiring , everything is starting to be tiresome for me : the cliché Basque grandmother, the cliché desperate mother , the cliché non-existent father more than absent and the cliché of an annoying baby continuously crying . The director intends to provide a close look at motherhood, but rather she has done a peculiar sight at the perpetual infantilism of millennials who cannot take on the life difficulties .

Here stands out the colorful cinematography by cameraman Jon D. Domínguez shot on location in Bakio, Bizkaia, Basque Country, Spain , Bilbao, Mundaka, Bizkaia , Spain and Madrid . Cinco Lobitos was middlingly directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa in his film debut , as she previously made Shorts . It won the Biznaga de Oro for Best Spanish Film at the Malaga Film Festival, and its director won the Best Script Award. The actresses Laia Costa and Susi Sánchez, both co-stars, also received the 'ex aequo' award for Best Actress. Rating : 5/10. Average.

Boring

[camilogilmouzo · 5/10 · 11 February 2023]

Boring movie in which nothing memorable happens. Another attempt to be transcendent and what it does is bore people by telling them about the life of any of their neighbors, as if we didn't know it. What happens in the movie is a normal life for any Spaniard. The actors are very good, the script and the story totally vulgar. You see the movie and you stay, well, so what? What is the story? Who doesn't experience something similar? Does a movie deserve to be made telling the normal and ordinary slowly and boredom? I do not think so. And it is very nominated for the Goya. What a level Spanish cinema has!

English speaking parts unrealistic

[beddoedrive · 1/10 · 16 February 2023]

As an American I can confirm that it is not customary to use terms of endearment in the workplace or with colleagues especially in publishing or writing/marketing. All scenes where the main character would speak with her colleague Charlotte they would call each other "honey".

Did they not bother to consult ANY American even just living down the street from where the movie was being shot to ensure it was a realistic representation?

Everything else was right on par with how bossy Spanish women are and how heartless older women are with their daughters.

It's a great movie to watch before having a child since it shows just how difficult the first year is.