A Perfect Day (2015)

Now here's something I didn't expect: a movie shot in Spain by a Spanish director and crew, but set in Bosnia and with mostly English dialog. While director Fernando León de Aranoa didn't make anything that I'd heard of before, he must have some overseas pull, because the cast includes Benicio Del Toro and Tim Robbins.

Nor did I expect such a conflict to carry a whole movie: Back in the '90s, a group of volunteers tries to pull a body out of a well. Sounds easy, but in a wartorn mountain nation, it's not easy to find available rope or travel to reach it. Obstacles include poverty, hostility, evidence of mines, and bureaucratic UN workers being frustrating if not worse than useless. And the dead man isn't a minor issue; he could start an epidemic if not extracted in time, which was probably the intent of whoever dropped him in.

Despite the inherent bleakness, it gets remarkably funny at many points (somewhat like in Nebraska). The group's translator, who's ironically bad at sensing sarcasm, indicates that the locals have a reputation for joking and laughing. We don't get to appreciate much of that, but Robbins as "B" almost steals the show as a talkative, unruly smart aleck who wouldn't look out of place in a Coen Brothers flick.

There are other limits to the bleakness. While B reports hearing RPGs, we never see or hear any gunfire or explosions. We see multiple carcasses, human and bovine, but never before they die. It's mostly suspense that never comes to fruition. (After this and The Devil's Backbone, I wonder if Spain has a thing for unexploded ordnance.)

Then there's how the characters feel about one another. This matters especially when Mambrú (Del Toro) must persuade ex-girlfriend Katya (Olga Kurylenko) not to cancel their operations. She's not the only female lead, BTW; Sophie (Mélanie Thierry) is a relatively inexperienced helper in for a sharp learning curve.

The least happy parts concern a young boy, Nikola, who's been making do without a home or parents on hand for a while. The heroes go out of their way to do him a few favors, which he returns by leading them to rope. Which is by no means the end of their difficulties.

Judging from online sources, APD is pretty divisive. Detractors must not know what to make of such mixed moods or such a simple story. Still, the majority favors it, including the audience at the AFI Silver Theater. This being a special U.S. debut, we'd had to sit through 20+ minutes of guests (León de Aranoa among them) talking at us first, but it was worth the wait.