Km. 0 (2000)

Powerful

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Madrid's Puerta del Sol, is considered the central point in the city. It's a busy place in the old section of town. The plaza is also a meeting point for people, as it's the case in the film. We are presented about a dozen people that are more interconnected than we imagined, as each life touches another."Km. 0" is an entertaining film that shows some characters that are in search of discovering themselves as some of they embark in several sexual encounters. Some will pay off, others not too well. All the characters are affected by the heat wave during that summer day. Most of them will discover something about themselves and will make resolutions for changes in their lives.The film credits two directors, Yolanda Garcia Serrano and Juan Luis Iborra, who have collaborated before and are also the screen writers. They work a lot on Spanish television. The ensemble cast do a wonderful job under the directors commands.This is a light fun film with fast pacing that will entertain the viewer. The only odd note is the ending, which is seen from the would be director's eyes, as though everything has been a movie in the making in his imagination.

This delightful comedy follows the 14 characters whose plans to meet on an unbearably hot afternoon at KM 0 in Madrid become unraveled by midnight. There is the film student thinking he is meeting a cousin for lodging; a lady scheduling to meet a younger john; a flamenco dancer who thought he is seeing an internet date; a nerd planning for a first time tryst with a hooker; a girl shopping for a wedding to an unexcited boyfriend and a desperate actress hoping to land a part in a musical. Come midnight and the long awaited rain, all their expectations were met unexpectedly. Acting is low brow but very believable. Some spot on emotions (and funny) like when bride-to-be had an empty pistol shot at her head and the highly-charged nerd cum when touched by a gigolo. I thought the whole movie is more about the happenings in the Diner (where they all meet) owned by the reluctant groom rather than KM 0 itself but hey, you will smile and laugh along the way.

Low-budget and light, KM 0 is - nonetheless - a refreshing blend of drama and romantic comedy. Combining a sprawling Altman-size cast, a touch of Almodovar camp, and a Frank Capra sweetness, the film follows the interaction and evolving connections between 14 strangers from various backgrounds who all share a coincidental meeting place at the center of Madrid, during a highly symbolic heat wave. The varied situations they find themselves in are fairly cut-and-dried at first, but each evolves in an unusual direction, and at least a few of the characters (the younger gay man, the middle aged woman) are quite fascinating and endearing. This attention to detail elevates this charming but messy film above the usual romantic comedy, and the Capra-esquire twist near the film's end was pleasantly unexpected. With the exception of the middle-aged woman, I found the male characters to be much more well developed. The fact that a couple of the women preserve connections to men who treat them badly seemed highly unnecessary - though perhaps realistic, it didn't really work as a critique of sexual politics, and this threw a sour note into an otherwise breezy and pleasant film.But overall there's plenty of charm here, and I found KM 0 to be mostly a treat.

This is a completely entertaining, hilariously funny, film. The story revolves around a series of coincidences and mistaken identities among an attractive group of Madrilenos of varied ages and sexual inclinations on a scorching summer day. While the plot, as such, is completely ridiculous and fairly predictible, the performances are uniformly terrific, and there are some very amusing twists and turns on the way to the foregone conclusion. Well worth seeing, much more genuinely amusing than most Hollywood attempts at romantic comedy.