Saturday Nights at Instituto - Anytime Soon

Saturday Nights at Instituto Cervantes



As part of its mission to promote Spanish and Latin American culture globally, Instituto Cervantes of Manila hosts a weekly screening of Spanish and Latin American movies every Saturday evening. Since I regularly attend these screenings I will be posting on this blog my thoughts on the movies shown.



ANYTIME SOON (Esas No Son Penas)
Directors: Daniel Andrade, Anahi Hoeneisen


This film is part of the Cine en Construccion (Cinema in Construction) cycle that is an annual part of Instituto Cervantes' screening program. According to Cervantes' website, Cine en Construccion is a program that gives financial support for post-production to independently-made feature films.



Anytime Soon, a film from Ecuador, follows the same template of other Cine en Construccion films that I've seen: small-scale, slice-of-life films. This is particularly true in the case of this particular film, which seems to eschew any kind of drama for the sake of recreating the feel of real life.



The film has five major characters, four of whom are briefly introduced in the first part of the film: Elena, who is pregnant; the somewhat wild and free-spirited Tamara; single mother Diana; and Marina. The heart of the movie is a late evening get-together, during which the four reunite with Alejandra, who is recovering from cancer.



The above synopsis is literally all there is to the movie. There is no dramatic tension, no resolution to any of the characters' problems. We simply share their lives for a few hours.



This led me to a reflection on the relationship between movies and real life. I realized that most people don't go to movies to see real life. Why would they when they already expreience the dreariness of most of everyday life? What viewers want is to see a heightened version of real life, without the routine, boring and ordinary parts. Admittedly, the reunion party is a big deal for the characters, but not for the viewers. I mean, why would they want to watch a party where nothing dramatic really happens in a movie, when they can actually attend a party in real life?



This capturing of the feel of everyday life is actually the film's strength. The actresses act with true naturalism, without making us ever feel that they are acting. They convincingly make the audience feel that they are old friends during the party scenes. This already sounds cliche, but Anytime Soon is almost like a documentary, with the camera intruding on the lives of real people.But, unfortunately, the film never goes deeper than that, never gives us any insight into the friends and their lives.



Anytime Soon ultimately seems like a film that would never get any screening beyond the film festival circuit. In fact, another thing that struck me is that the filmmakers, even before the credits rolled, had a title card showing the many film festivals in which this film has been exhibited.



Sad to say the feeling I carried out of the screening is one of loneliness and the overwhelming futility of life.