‘All parts of the bed’: Children sing that they are staler than their parents | Cinema: previews and reviews

The new loving modernity is to be conservative. The younger generations, like all those before them, rebel against the older generations. And what more biting subversion than to break with the above in sexual and emotional matters: abandon free and unfettered sex; escape from the lack of sentimental commitment; Get out of your head that you want to stay young even if you are not old enough to do so. And, consequently, deciding to get married at 21 to a person of the opposite sex with whom you are deeply in love. In the reality of today’s Spanish society, the tone may not be damn funny in certain homes and environments, but in a comedy it is, even if it is an exaggeration. At least as a starting point.

Some more or less, around fifty, the age of the protagonists All sides of the bed Surely they have faced a conversation about love and sex on some occasion where their children or their children’s friends seem to be closer than their grandparents thought than to themselves. Like any generalization, it contains some lies and a lot of truth, but the new youth rebellion will be reactionary, and not just politically, but also. And it is precisely in that surprising (and conflictual, given that cinema is not surprisingly based on conflict) place that the authors of this latest sequel found themselves: 23 years after the marvelous The other side of the bed, a modern classic of Spanish cinema, and two decades of its somewhat faded second part, The 2 sides of the bed.

The producers of this new episode continue to be the same as those of that (almost) pioneering comedy in putting performers to sing and dance who did not perform either task very well, but who with freshness, enthusiasm and a curious mix of audacity and elegance, as well as a catchy and generational collection of songs, managed to bring the theaters to 2.8 million spectators in 2005 (the second, to 1.5 million). In those stories everyone met everyone, and now it’s about romantic love.

Of course don’t be afraid, it’s not as boring a comedy as it seems. It’s just the starting point, even if it’s later consistent with the premise. It is also consistent that the authors and directors of these, David Serrano and Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, have given way to another generation of filmmakers: behind the camera is the new Samantha López Speranza, and Carlos del Hoyo and Irene Bohoyo wrote it.

“But weren’t you gay?” the father asks when he finds out about his son’s desire to marry a girl. “Don’t be old-fashioned, Dad!” replies the son, in a response of wide and variable interpretation. The elderly are lost, while the children are much more lucid. And some of the best of this discontinuous comedy, inspired by the classic wedding sabotage (Philadelphia Stories, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Wedding Plans…), it means exposing that the two sides, in the eyes of the other, can be intensely ridiculous.

Even adult viewers will likely be disappointed by the children’s sequences; and that a good part of teenagers blush in front of those of puretas. On the other hand, despite the downfalls, the film shows an erroneous generational observation capacity and, even if only punctually, is able to bring it into its story. And there that male shyness shines through in intimacy, compared to female youthful shamelessness: “Pull my fucking hair!”

Classic musical where characters show their feelings through song lyrics, All sides of the bed contains an infectious song list (from Amatria, La La Love You, La Casa Azul, Cariño, Nena Daconte…), but the dance numbers, when there is no localization unit, are closer to video clips than at the cinema.

Both in the image and in the lyrics (with some ridiculous jokes) there are moments of a cheap television series. However, the three young people realize what they have, namely the romantic part, and the experience and enormous comic vision of Pilar Castro, Ernesto Alterio, Alberto San Juan and Secun de la Rosa support the structure from the point of view of laughter. The group, despite the disparity, seems competent enough to attempt a new blockbuster, even if this time the applause seems more nostalgic than enthusiastic.