Bad times in downtown Barcelona



Javier Bardem in Biutiful

Last night I went to see 'Biutiful'. Almost two hours of non-stop despair in downtown Barcelona. In its review, the Guardian reported, "A surface tension of liquid misery is stretched over this movie, like unshed tears on a brimming eyeball". Spot on. A barrel of laughs, it ain't, but it is a very powerful film that brings home the squalor and desperation that are an everyday part of the lives of many.

It had everything - cancer, alcoholism, drugs, bi-polar disorder, gay Chinese gangsters, illegal immigrants, communication with the dead, corrupt cops, misery porn-chic and dead Chinese being washed up on the beach.

Gwen Taylor and Keith Barron in 'Duty Free'

A very marked contrast to the episode of 80s Spanish-set sitcom 'Duty Free' which I had watched on daytime TV earlier in the day. Keith Barron was trying to cheat on his wife, the lovely Gwen Taylor, in a seedy tourist bar whilst being spied on by Pedro the waiter. Talk about chalk and cheese.