Stockholm

Pelikula: Spanish Film Festival

Greenbelt 3 Cinema 1

"Stockholm" had the semblance of the famous Richard Linklater movie "Before Sunrise". In that two strangers meet and end up conversing the whole night before 'sealing the deal', so to speak.  But the key word here is 'semblance' as this Spanish film takes on a deeper, more unsettling manner to drive its message across the big screen.

There are only two persons who play the major roles and their characterization is authentic and sincere despite the mysterious and intriguing aura that envelops them. The first part shows a rather pretentious guy who declares to a girl who just passed by him at a party that he is in love with her. No introductions, no small talk, no exchange of phone numbers ... he just blurts it out to her. Naturally, she is skeptical yet he insists and spends the rest of the night until early dawn convincing her he is true to his word.

Personally, I am too sarcastic and paranoid so I could never grasp the concept of just going with the flow with a complete stranger, at that. The fact that some guy I know nothing about is 'propositioning' me is beyond my belief. Sure I've seen it on movies and it is kind of romantic and maybe just maybe it does occur in real life but I'm not convinced it would lead to anything concrete, relationship-wise.

Yet "Stockholm" had me intrigued especially when the second part rolled in. The sudden or is it subtle change in the characters' behaviors towards each other was an eye opener. I wasn't really surprised as there were signs which manifested themselves in the early part. Yet at the same time, the portrayal was spot on. The fact that the guy's attitude changed the morning after was very realistic. I mean, come on most guys change once they get what they want, don't they? The same goes for her behavior/attitude, it was nicely played. 

The ending for me played out like a moment you kind of expected would happen yet still get shocked when it does. Expected yet tragic but there were certainly signs early on that somehow everything wasn't quite right for one of the characters. It sort of makes you think that the whole encounter was a waste of their time but deep inside I admit there would not have been a better ending than the way the film concluded.

This film is not the conventional boy meets girl narrative, it has more depth even though it doesn't fully explore its characters' past (there is truly no need to do, actually). So it would fit in the thriller genre instead of merely being a romantic interlude in the lives of its youthful characters.