El Relicario: A dusty, dramatic trip into old Spanish melodrama

If you aren't into old Spanish songs or guys in tight pants staring intensely at things, you should probably skip El relicario.

But if you like movies that feel like a faded postcard found in a dusty attic, this might actually be your thing.

It is worth watching today only if you have a soft spot for melodrama so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.

People who love modern, fast-paced thrillers will probably hate this with a passion.

It's basically a long, dramatic build-up to a song everyone already knew back then. 💃

The whole thing is based on a song by José Padilla, and you can tell the director, Miguel Contreras Torres, really didn't want anyone to forget that.

The plot is about a bullfighter, some romance, and a locket (the 'relicario' itself).

Honestly, the story is pretty thin, but the emotions are dialed up to eleven for no reason.

I noticed early on that the way José Alcazaba walks into a room is just... a lot.

He doesn't just enter; he arrives, usually with a look on his face like he just smelled something slightly off.

There is this one scene where a character is holding the locket and just stares at it for what feels like three minutes.

I think the movie wanted me to feel the weight of history, but I just started wondering if the actor forgot his next line.

The camera just lingers there, watching him breathe.

It’s kind of funny if you aren't in the right mood.

The bullfighting scenes are... well, they aren't exactly high-budget spectacles.

You can tell they were working with what they had, which wasn't much.

Some of the crowd shots look like they just pointed a camera at a random Sunday afternoon gathering and hoped for the best.

It lacks the weird, chaotic energy of something like The Cocoanuts, which was doing its own thing around that era.

Instead, this film is very serious about itself.

The women in the film mostly exist to look worried or beautiful, often at the same time.

Nieves Aliaga has this way of clutching her shawl that is probably meant to be iconic but just looks like she's cold.

I found myself looking at the backgrounds more than the actors sometimes.

There is a lot of woodden furniture that looks very uncomfortable.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of El relicario (1929) through its definitive frames.

The lighting is actually okay in the indoor scenes, giving everyone these deep, moody shadows.

It reminded me a bit of the heavy shadows in The New Babylon, though that’s a way more intense movie than this one.

The music is the real star here, obviously.

When the main theme kicks in, the movie stops being a story and starts being a vibe.

If you don't like the song, you are going to have a very bad time because it comes back a lot.

I caught myself humming it later, which is annoying because I didn't even like it that much during the film.

There’s a strange moment where a secondary character just disappears for a while and then pops back in like nothing happened.

I wonder if they lost some footage or if they just didn't care about that guy's subplot.

It’s that kind of movie where logic takes a backseat to passion.

Compared to something like The Lover of Camille, this feels much more grounded in a specific cultural tradition.

It isn't trying to be universal; it's trying to be Spanish.

I respect that, even if the acting feels a bit like a high school play at points.

The dialogue is very flowery, the kind of stuff nobody has ever actually said in real life.

“My heart is a bullring,” or something like that. I might be paraphrasing, but you get the point.

One guy wears a hat that is so large it almost obscures the person standing next to him.

I spent about ten minutes just watching the hat move. 🎩

The ending is exactly what you think it will be.

It doesn't try to surprise you, which is almost a relief after all the drama.

It just sort of... ends, with the music swelling and everyone looking very tired.

I don't think I'd watch it again, but I'm glad I saw it once.

It’s a weird little time capsule of a style of filmmaking that just doesn't exist anymore.

If you’re bored on a rainy Tuesday, give it a go, I guess.

Just don't expect it to change your life.