18 Meals

2010 [SPANISH]

Comedy / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 61%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 61%
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 567 567

Plot summary

Food, glorious food! Some of the most sumptuous and involving films revolve around that most common of acts: eating. 18 MEALS is an omnibus film of criss-crossing stories divided into three segments; breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jorge Coira's debut feature, shot over nine days in Santiago de Compostela has enough tasty portions to please audiences. Amongst Coira's expansive ensemble are aging street musician Edu, a pair awaking from a one-night stand, a businessman visiting his closeted homosexual brother and a lonely housewife, Sol. Victor and Sol are two of 18 MEALS' most fascinating characters as they each hide something - his sexuality, her depression - from those around them. Best of all is Pedro Alsono as Vladimir, a local celebrity actor who makes a meal for a mystery woman who never arrives. Who hasn't gone to a lot of trouble to do something extra special for someone just to have it go unappreciated?

Director

Jorge Coira Photo
Jorge Coira

Top cast

Federico Pérez Rey Photo
Federico Pérez Rey as Tuto
Luis Tosar Photo
Luis Tosar as Edu
Sergio Peris-Mencheta Photo
Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Sergio
Pedro Alonso Photo
Pedro Alonso as Vladimir Torres
720p.BluRay
985.85 MB
1280*690
Spanish 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   es   gl   fr   de  
24 fps
1 hr 47 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by 6 / 10

A simple comedy with some diverting moments and other briefly dramatic ones

Dramedy with amusing moments , brief drama and a charming love stories ; being well developed some engaging and charming relationships . It takes place in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) , a cultural capital , there lives a couple of gays (Sergio Perez Mencheta and Victor Clavijo) when his brother (Juán Carlos Bellido) is on visit , there then emerges intolerance and bigotry . Meanwhile , a lovely and good person called Edu (Luis Tosar) works as a busker playing by the streets some popular songs when he meets an old sweetheart , Sol (Esperanza Pedreño) .Both of whom rekindle the old friendship and fall in love again . As the talking in the meals are more important than just eating . It is set while roles have breakfast , lunch and dinner . This happens one day with intertwined lives in the historic city . To make things worse at a meal meeting , a companion at table suffers a stroke . Later on , the guitarist befriends a Croatian man because they have similar troubles . At the end Sol has to choose between his hubby and her old love . La vida está servida (Life is served)Entertaining as well as tender screenplay dealing with gays , bigotry , love , family , divorce and many others things . Set in the city of Santiago de Compostela, this is a passable and plain dramedy : a bit of drama plus witty comedy , in which is developed various yarns about love stories , marriage , separation , and friendship . The important conversations, socially and for all other reasons, are done around food. The scenes were improvised, based on biographies the actors and the filmmaker had developed about their own roles . The film is full of nice moments , tenderness , with an attractive relation between a busker and his old lover or the relationships between a couple homosexual and his brother . Other relations include the guitarist and a croatian man ; and between a young girl and her married lover while falling in love with another one , too . This warm film is pretty well , even if has an uneven plot flowing throughout, containing up and down developing . This a vibrant and feeling flick with enjoyable and charming scenes, though excessive dialogue , it gets together drama and comedy : dramedy, though it is more comedy than drama . Main cast and supporting cast is frankly nice , such as : Luis Tosar , Sergio Peris-Mencheta , Víctor Clavijo , María Vázquez , Juán Carlos Vellido , Pedro Alonso and Cristina Brondo , among others .There stands out the colorful and atmospheric cinematography by Brand Ferro , being shot on location in Santiago , Ames, A Coruña, Galicia, A Coruña, Galicia , Cospeito, Lugo, Galicia, and Rábade, Lugo, Galicia, Spain . Adequate and evocative Galician musical score from Iván Laxe and Piti Sanz . The catching soundtrack includes : Dile que no -instrumental- Written by Piti Sanz Performed by Piti Sanz and Iván Laxe ; Os soños do Diaño Performed by Estoupacaldeiros ; Muiñeira de Polo -Traditional- Performed by Estoupacaldeiros ; Terra Written by Piti Sanz Performed by Nuncy Valcárcel and several others . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jorge Coira . He is a good craftsman who has made several TV episodes from known series as Piratas , Pelotas , RIS Cientifica , El Comisario , Padre Casares , Hierro and Se quien eres . And directing ocassionally for cinema as El Año de la Garrapata and this one . Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable .
Reviewed by 4 / 10

Interesting if you think mediocre Spain is interesting

Reviewed by 9 / 10

Various meals reveal nuances in everyday relations.

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