Better yesterday than never ...
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Better yesterday than never ... |
| Original title | The Man with Rain in His Shoes |
| Country of production | Great Britain , Spain , France , Luxembourg |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Maria Ripoll |
| script | Rafa Russo |
| production | Juan Gordon |
| music |
Bernardo Fúster , Ángel Illarramendi , Luis Mendo |
| camera | Javier G. Salmones |
| cut | Nacho Ruiz Capillas |
| occupation | |
| |
Better yesterday than never… (Original title: The Man with Rain in His Shoes ) is a Spanish - British - French love story from 1998. Directed by María Ripoll , the screenplay was written by Rafa Russo .
action
The unsuccessful London actor Victor Bukowski rushes through the streets to find his ex-girlfriend Sylvia on her way home. Sylvia, who works as a psychologist, wants to marry her fiancé Dave the next day. Victor, who cheated on her with an actress eight months ago and then left her, wants to dissuade her and get her to return to him. But Sylvia cannot be changed. In the evening Victor goes to a bar and pours out his heart to the red-haired barmaid. He tells her about his affair and how he confessed it to Sylvia, full of guilt, on the day of the annual Notting Hill Carnival . Only a little later, however, he realized that he did not love the other woman. Now he would like to turn back time to be with Sylvia again. When he wants to leave the bar, the bartender gives him a tattered umbrella, with which Victor sadly walks through the streets. On the way he meets two Spanish garbage collectors, Don Miguel and Rafael. He asks them for help and drives them to a rubbish dump. There Don Miguel reads something from a book to him and Rafael blindfolds him. Victor begins to turn in circles and is suddenly alone.
On the way home, in the hustle and bustle of the Notting Hill Carnival, Victor discovers that he has traveled eight months back in time. He returns home full of hope, where Sylvia is already waiting for him. Instead of admitting the affair, he assures her that he loves her dearly. He then breaks up with his lover and tries to give Sylvia his full attention. As a result, Sylvia is happier than ever, as Victor finally seems ready to make compromises for her and even want to quit smoking. She is also happy for him when the premiere of the play in which he plays the leading role becomes a great success. While Victor had previously successfully prevented Sylvia and Dave from getting to know each other in a fitness center, they finally meet at dinner with Sylvia's friend Alison. Alison met Dave at the fitness center and invited Dave to join him. Dave, who works as an engineer and was recently involved in a humanitarian project in Calcutta , immediately only has eyes for Sylvia. She in turn feels flattered and doesn't understand why Victor is jealous of Dave when he goes to bed. A short time later, Sylvia meets Dave again by chance and makes an appointment with him. They soon meet regularly and start an affair. When Victor feels that Sylvia is cheating on him, he confronts her. Sylvia, who no longer wants to lie to him, finally admits to having cheated on him.
After Sylvia has moved out of the shared apartment, Victor looks for the red-haired barmaid who gave him the umbrella. In the bar, however , there is a new waitress at the bar, Louise, who comes from Córdoba . One evening Louise brings the drunken Victor home. The next morning she calls him and makes an appointment. When they meet, she tells him that she has just been fired and replaced with a new waitress. Victor then goes into the bar and gives the red-haired barmaid back the umbrella. He and Louise, who is writing a novel, eventually become a couple and are very happy together. Professionally, too, things are looking up. Victor gets a leading role in a television series. At a party, Sylvia sees Victor on TV and begins to miss him. She feels neglected by workaholic Dave and struggles to convince herself that you need freedom in a relationship. That the newspaper announces Victor's imminent wedding to Louise makes her all the more sad. When she is alone in the evening and watches the BAFTA awards on television , at which Victor is also nominated for an award, she decides to go to the awards ceremony and win Victor back for herself. Soaked in rain, she arrives at the theater where the award ceremony is taking place. While his friend Freddie accepts his award, Victor empathically gives Sylvia to understand that they both made the same mistakes and only realized when it was too late. It is now Louise, however, with whom Victor wants to be with. Sylvia leaves the theater sad. An employee of the theater gives her the old umbrella that he had previously received from the red-haired barmaid. Thoughtfully, Sylvia goes to a park with the umbrella and sits on a bench. Suddenly the two Spanish garbage collectors sit down next to her. They tell her something and Sylvia starts smiling hopefully.
background
The film was shot in Notting Hill, London. Its world premiere took place on August 30, 1998 at the World Film Festival in Montreal . On September 15, 1998, it was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival . This was followed by screenings at a number of other film festivals, including the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya in October 1998 and Fantasporto in March 1999. In Germany, Better Yesterday Than Never… was shown in cinemas on September 23, 1999. In 2005 the film was released on DVD.
Reviews
For the lexicon of international film , Better Yesterday Than Never was… a “[quickly] staged comedy with amusing and romantic details”. However, the director "does not always trust the suggestion of the picture" and "sometimes spreads their literary references too wordy". The "familiar basic dramaturgical pattern from comparable films" again shows "signs of fatigue". Ellen Warstat wrote in Cinema that the film was "Medicine against lovesickness" and first and foremost "Balm for men-tested women's hearts". Victor suffered "like a dog" and was played by Douglas Henshall "so touchingly funny" that "you want to comfortingly scratch the repentant sinner behind the ears". The "what-if" concept is not new, but "thanks to an excellent cast and the script that is true to life and emotions [...] romantics open their hearts".
Also prism stated that the "game of chance and the time loop" is not new, and remembered it in film comedies like Groundhog Day and she loves him - she does not love him . Therefore, yesterday , better than never, would have had to offer more “than a completely meaningless leading actor who looks like nothing and as a limp silt is more annoying than amused, an unimaginative, chatty script and a boring direction”. In the end, the result was “Euro pudding”, which “four production countries pummeled around with”, which one notices throughout the film: “Flair, style and atmosphere are literally bogged down in no man's land”. Roger Ebert drew a similarly negative conclusion and said in the Chicago Sun-Times that the American title Twice Upon a Yesterday promised displeasure from the outset and that the film did not disappoint in this regard. It is a "boring affair". One could not like Victor, played by Douglas Henshall, in great contrast to Louise, played by Penélope Cruz.
Jonathan Holland of Variety once again found the film “cleverly made”, “funny” and, as María Ripoll's directorial debut, “surprisingly self-confident”. As a “romantic feel-good comedy”, the film provides “appealing, if somewhat bland” entertainment. The action with its leaps in time was implemented properly, but not quite as well as in Groundhog Day . The performances of the actors are "solid". Douglas Henshall carries the film "with energy and verve [...] in almost every scene", even if his "sometimes exaggerated game" demands "as much patience" from the viewer as the protagonists.
Awards
For Better Yesterday Than Never… María Ripoll received the Gran Angular Prize in 1998 at the Sitges Film Festival. The film was screened in the competition for the best entry at the Korean Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. At the World Film Festival, Rafa Russo received an award in the Best Screenplay category; María Ripoll was again nominated for the Grand Prix des Amériques des Festivals.
In 1999, Lieber Yesterday Than Never… was nominated as Best Film for the Golden Círculo Precolombino of the Festival de Cine de Bogota; Ripoll eventually won the bronze Círculo Precolombino. In 2000, Ripoll was nominated for the Goya in the category of best young director. In the same year the film was nominated for the Imagen Award .
Web links
- Dear Rain in His ... in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dear Rain in His ... at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Better yesterday than never ... In: Lexicon of international film . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ cf. prisma.de
- ↑ "It's a tedious contrivance." Roger Ebert : Twice Upon a Yesterday . In: Chicago Sun-Times , June 25, 1999.
- ↑ “Deft, witty and surprisingly assured for a feature debut, Spaniard Maria Ripoll's English-language feel-good romantic comedy The Man With Rain in His Shoes makes pleasing, if slightly anodyne, viewing. [...] Perfs are solid, with the energy and verve of Scottish actor Douglas Henshall carrying pic through nearly every scene, even though his occasional habit of going over the top is as demanding on the audience's patience as it is on the women around him. ” Jonathan Holland: Review: 'The Man With Rain in His Shoes' . In: Variety , May 14, 1998.