Jacabo (Emelio Gutierrez Caba) has reached an age where he tends to reflect on his life. These thoughts are pleasant in that he is thankful for his beautiful wife (Marce Montala) and loving family, and his satisfying career as a piano tuner. So why does he have those unsettling dreams about waking up as a young man (Francisco Nortes) in a field with a cuddly sheep? Why does he often see a strange man (Carles Aguimbau) eating food from his kitchen and using his bathroom, then promptly disappearing? Why does he suffer from insomnia? Why does he hear a piano when no one else does?
My first conclusion is that this is a magical realistic interpretation of his mid-life crisis. For instance, Jacobo, a piano tuner for many generations and very proud of it, always thought that with a good deed, a few prayers, and a good night's sleep, Jesus would take care of the pianos, and they were always fine the next day. His dreams which refer to the Greek myth of Io and Zeus with color saturated skies and that same recurring lamb in a rowboat who changes color and gives cryptic hints to Jacobo's dilemma must have deep psychological meaning -- perhaps due to the pressures of life during the dictatorship of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, a reign of political and social oppression that lasted almost 40 years. But really, is that stranger in his home a dream or an intruder? And after all the questions are answered, I still don't know how his pianos get fixed and why his neighbor's wasn't. This is a very funny story about love in the time of dictatorship and after, about life and the ultimate success of life being staying alive to appreciate it.
The Most Important Thing in Life is Not Being Dead (Spain)
Directors: Olivier Pictet, Pablo Martin Torrado, Marc Recuenco
Writers: Pablo Martin Torrado, Marc Recuenco
Cast: Emelio Gutierrez Caba, Francisco Nortes, Marian Aguilera, Marce Montala, Carles Aguimbau, Albert Auselle
Time:
Playing at the Mill Valley Film Festival at the Sequoia on October 14 8:15 pm and the Rafael on October 16, 9:30 pm
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