vesselAvelina Prat’s directorial debut takes us to a Bulgarian who is as fortunate in his gaming and cooking skills as he is unfortunate in his social situation, close to destitution, and only supported by a pensioner with some ailments fleas vessel arrives in our cinemas next November 4.
Avelina Pratin his debut, he starts vessel with a scene close to the immediate in which the character of Karra Elejalde she talks to her daughter about the Bulgarian she has living at home. It blows our minds, one would say, an urban drama about the integration of a foreigner without means. Shortly after the appearance of Vasil, the Bulgarian, with his serious appearance and undoubtedly marked by the coldness of his origin and social situation, we reaffirm what this looks like. Until, at a certain point, Vasil lets go I have a game of bridge tonight. oh friend
So vessel (Ivan Bernev) continues to go ahead of schedule, of course, namely: the aforementioned Bulgarian, of few words, is a homeless man newly arrived in Spain, sheltered in the house of Alfredo (Karra Elejalde), a retired architect, who with his – his lack of communication skills (linguistic and human), and the help of his daughter (Alexandra Jiménez), and his ex (Sue Flack) will try to insert Vasil into society. But this initial touch, this comic note inserted at that moment to break the pattern and warn us of the mixed tone of the film, remains in highly satisfactory doses because they do not affect the balance between drama and comedy.
Vasil seems enjoyable, and of course fair in its duration (just 90 minutes), thanks to this balance: the inevitable path to travel, that is, the rapprochement and understanding of Vasil and Alfredo, as well as the development of the its characters, it becomes a kind of half of what Avelina Prat proposes. The other half, without a doubt, is the more raw issue of immigration and how we fit it into our social and economic system. In the same way the film manages to balance the two prisms in a lucky mixture.
The difficulty of Vasil and Alfredo to understand each other (although the latter has much to blame here), and to fit two such disparate cultures, is metaphorized in the plot of Vasil’s difficulties not only to get a job or to understand each other (although he speaks Spanish more than right), but it even affects him in something as banal as playing bridge in a club. They don’t want him. They know nothing and are afraid. Does it sound like them? Yes: Prat uses a bridge club, of a certain luxury in addition, to reinforce the perennial problem of integration.
If something negative we can scratch in vessel (the film, not the man: it is a collection of skills and even reflection, mind the stories it tells) is that, at the end of the day, the film falls a little short in what he tries to explain to us. What is emotional is dispensed with (and it is not due to the search for something crude) and a more precise plot although we recognize some decent dialogues and a successful direction of actors. vessel arrives in our cinemas next November 4.