Close Your Eyes

2023 2h 49m ES

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 129

DramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Years after his mysterious disappearance, Julio Arenas, a famous Spanish actor, is back in the news thanks to a television program.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Manolo Solo
Miguel Garay
Jose Coronado
Julio Arenas / Gardel
Ana Torrent
Ana Arenas
Petra Martínez
Sister Consuelo
María León
Belén
Mario Pardo
Max Roca
Helena Miquel
Marta Soriano
Antonio Dechent
Tico Mayoral

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Víctor Erice
Writers: Michel Gaztambide, Víctor Erice, Víctor Erice
Languages: Spanish
Countries: Argentina, Spain

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 169 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Argentina, Spain.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Víctor Erice, shot by Valentín Álvarez. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Federico Jusid. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ascen Marchena shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Manolo Solo and Jose Coronado and Ana Torrent carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt21284358 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Víctor Erice directs. Valentín Álvarez behind the camera. Federico Jusid scores. Ascen Marchena cuts. A long sit — settle in. Produced in Argentina, Spain. Dialogue in Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 169 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Released 3 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Argentina, Spain.
4Directed by Víctor Erice, shot by Valentín Álvarez. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Federico Jusid. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Ascen Marchena shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Manolo Solo and Jose Coronado and Ana Torrent carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt21284358 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Valentín Álvarez
Original score: Federico Jusid
Editing: Ascen Marchena
Makeup / hair: Beata Wójtowicz
Sound: Juan Ferro
Runtime: 169 min · 2h 49m
Status: Released
Box office: $716,644
Original language: ES
IMDB: Close Your Eyes (2023)

Also by

Víctor Erice

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-04-18
★ 7/10
We begin by watching a ten minute excerpt from a drama that shortly afterwards discover is just about all there is from the final film of acclaimed Spanish actor "Julio Arenas". He finished filming for the day then was never seen nor heard from again. Many years later, a television journalist "Soriano" (Helena Miquel) invites the film's director "Garay" (Manolo Solo) onto her missing persons television programme with a view to finding out just what happened to him. In best "Crimewatch" style, someone calls into the programme with a possible lead. Might they have found this man after all these years? On the face of it, the story is all a bit predictable. It's the quality of the acting and the writing that puts the meat on the bones, and both Solo and the Jose Coronoado as handyman "Gardel" deliver engagingly well. It is a slow burn of a film, with an emphasis split between the search for the actor and the search of "Garay" for some degree of closure so he can get on with his life rather listlessly spent reading, drinking, smoking and fishing with the fellow residents of his squat. Fans of "Rio Bravo" (1959) might recognise the song he sings with neighbours "Toni" (Dani Téllez) and his expectant wife, and those few moments of the film demonstrate nicely the emotions of friendship, emotion and loneliness director Victor Erice wants to convey for just about all of the principal characters. The conclusion in inconclusive, but it does make you pine a little for the days where even the smallest of towns had it's own cinema. I wonder if anyone should ever make the underpinning movie? This is worth watching.

Production companies