The Grandfather

Buy This Item The Grandfather by Miramax  Available from Amazon  $17.99  on 11-25-2008     Nominated for an Academy Award(R) as Best Foreign Language Film, THE GRANDFATHER is a deeply compelling tale of love, honor, and secrecy. When news of his son's death returns proud, old Count Albrit home to Spain after years abroad, he's pleased to meet his two charming young granddaughters. But he also carries the burden of a newly discovered family secret: one of the girls is not his son's daughter and therefore not his true heir! Starring original cast members from the Oscar(R)-winning Spanish film sensation ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER -- you'll be inescapably drawn into this powerful story as the determined Count sets out to discover which grannddaughter is worthy of his love and name! Reader Reviews Scenery was great, filmed in some spectacular parts of Spain, and many times the cinematography did it justice. Despite all that, how the story was executed was almost a soap opera, coming across forced and contrived, and the dubbing was HORRENDOUS. I hope the dialogue was better in Spanish than the English subtitles, but badly delivered (and dubbed) lines tend to have a universal impact, regardless of the language. Oddly enough, the originally spoken lines appear to have been Spanish and then overdubbed again in Spanish....go figure... The main female character (the mother) came across like some cheezy porn star character...I kept expecting her to bed down any of the dozen or so male characters in the movie in some ridiculous fashion (Oh Senior Perez...you're here to ask for a favor...and what favor would THAT be, por favor...). It wasn't her fault entirely as some of the costume and set designs just didn't hit the mark and wouldn't have been entirely out-of-place in a period-piece porn flick Interestingly, in a reversal from most flicks about nobility and their lower class servants, the high-class land-owners in this picture are the moral and noble characters (even when they're broke and don't have money...they have their "honor!"). The low-class commoners (with the exception of a tutor) are portrayed as untrustworthy and conniving, even after they've gained wealth. The whole film had this subtle underlying current of "the good ol' days long gone" when the nobility kept things strict, fair and honorable, and how the unscrupulous lower-caste had slowly undermined the natural order of things. The whole film (soundtrack included) came across as some sort of a less-than-skilled attempt at that "Cinema Paradiso" vibe (which was a flick I did like), where sentimentalism and tragedy are meant to pull at your heart strings. Only problem here for me is no strings were plucked... The movie wasn't horrible (except for the dubbing...just can't see how people overlooked that...ESPECIALLY native Spanish speakers), as I did enjoy the scenery quite a bit, and the second half was a bit better than the first, but as a whole, it just didn't hit the mark. With the exception of the grandfather and the dude who played the tutor (and they weren't Oscar material), most of the acting was just uninspired, which was on par with the dialogue and story line and tended to fit the movie as a whole All in all, a less-talented production of a "Cinema Paradiso" type of story. And if you loved that (and aren't picky about bad dubbing), you might like this a bit as well. Finally to qualify myself as a reviewer, I love plenty of foreign flicks, and have no problems reading subtitles. For me this one just wasn't up to par as a whole.

The Grandfather Available from Amazon Price: $17.99 Updated on 11-25-2008.

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