The 4th Floor (2003)

This movie is horribly underrated. It's such a gorgeous piece of cinematography. It makes you cry without being over-dramatic, it makes you think without being preachy, it makes you laugh at the hilarious lines delivered so neatly by the young cast. It's not a movie about cancer or dying, it's about living. I've rarely seen a film so original, about 70% of this movie is memorable and you can still quote the lines months after. If you think "oh another movie with sick kids that you are supposed to pity" you are terribly wrong. Their grief and anger is awesomely crafted in the few moments where it appears. The jokes are very funny if you can understand some Spanish, but if you don't you may want to check this out as well cos it's one of the best I've seen. And I've seen some.

Excellent! And it is better if you see it in Spanish...it is more real, and the jokes, etc, are more realistic and understanding. One of my favorite movies on the whole movies I have seen AWeSoMe.I like all the movies Juan Jose Ballesta was in, he is a good actor. Estopa, the band that goes in the end and starts to sing, is a really well-known band in Spain. They rock!And the dream of this poor guys was to met them..so hehe...it was so nice to see, and so good. I love Spanish movies...:P And that has nothing to do that I am Spanish. It's just that I think it is better than ANY American movie.It's a drama, yet first love, problems of teenage years. So greatly great.

I turned on TV the other night to find this playing(good old SBS, best TV channel in the world which also happens to be free-to-air). Seeing 3 or 4 bald young boys made me curious so I stood there watching a bit longer. It was a nice story but I watched to the end for two other reasons: The really nice shots of the action in the hospital corridors and those beautiful boy actors. Their enthusiasm really seems to lift the movie up a notch. Great casting and a great effort from those kids.Lacasito 01 mentioned that the English subtitles weren't up to scratch. I can only recommend that you find a copy of the version that I watched here in Australia. The slang and the swearing are translated into Aussie by the subtitlers on my favourite network. I sometimes get a bit of a shock when I sit down to watch a foreign movie and the characters are spouting lines that I could have heard down at the local pub. I think for non Australians though, that this might add just the flavour of foreigness that you need in the dialogue of a foreign-language film.

--- MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD ----I saw this movie when it was shown at the Malaga Film Festival last spring, as a friend of mine recommended it to me. I have to admit that probably I wouldn't have gone to see it without his advice, as I hadn't heard anything about the film before its premiere. But now I'm so glad I saw it!The film tells the story of a group of boys staying at hospital, as they suffer from cancer. Reading this sentence could probably stop you from seeing the movie... but the surprise is that the film is a COMEDY. Yes, you've read well. The story is told with a lot of humor, but obviously with dramatic climaxes as it doesn't leave aside the cruelty of the illness. That's why director Antonio Mercero has done a wonderful job, with an exact balance of humor and drama. This film will make you laugh as well as it'll probably make you cry.One of the fundamental things about the script is that it's based on co-writer Albert Espinosa's real-life experiences, as he suffered from cancer for many years when he was a child. So who could explain what these boys felt better than him? Whith this idea, he wrote a successful theatre play called "Los pelones" (in English "The bald guys", the familiar way these boys where called by the hospital crew, as they loose their hair because of chimiotherapy), that later became the base of the film Planta 4ª.The acting is very good as well. Lead young actor Juan José Ballesta is well known in Spain for taking part in some Spanish good movies, and I think the youngest actor to win the Goya (Spanish Oscars) for Best Beginner Actor in his very first movie "El Bola". The rest of the boys are unknown actors to the audience, but perform a superb acting as well. I have the feeling that it'll win some Goyas next year, as it already won 2 prizes at Montréal World Film Festival last September (Best Director and People's Choice Award) and received a special mention at Malaga Film Festival.I would give a 10 to this film, but I think that including the performance of famous Spanish singers "Estopa" was not a good ending in any way. I could even say that it nearly wrecks the film's overall good feeling. But putting this aside, let's score an 8,5 out of 10.Anyway I strongly recommend you to go and see this movie. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing it again, as the theatrical release will be next October, 24th in Spain.