I was really just doing someone a favor by adding some data to IMDb when I gave the pilot episode of this series a go; it was an entrant in a short film contest and it won, giving it funding for a longer web-based series of 5 parts. With the pilot we had been with Young Jose Manuel Espencer who was a Medieval Mathematics student, but this series finds us picking him up in several new situations. The first of which is moving in with people and seeking work since his area of study becomes permanently extinct, but beyond this we see Jose Manuel try to get fit, complete his studies (a degree in Obsolete Communications), get married and have a baby with the objective of refloating a marriage that is still lurching today.
The pilot for this series was quite low-cost to say the least, but it had a good energy and a few nice laughs. The show itself sees the budget raised but inherently it continues to do the same thing. There is no reason for the structure and the episodes don't really feel connected apart from having the same central character – particularly since they are all so short and we jump through some very large life situations. This does mean you see the show as a series of unconnected shorts in a narrative sense, but this really doesn't matter because each of them does work on their own merits. To be blunt, the show is based around observational comedy which is then slightly exaggerated to increase the humor; it is never hilariously funny but it is consistently amusing and gave me a few good chuckles along the way.
The content is one thing but to me it was the manner of delivery that made it work. The phrasing of sentences is nicely done so that they embrace the absurdity more by the choice of words or sentences – it is hard to describe but it is pretty well written from this point of view as even the most ordinary of situations is given a flourish with the language; it is also impressive that the subtitles keep this humor even as it translate into English. The pacing works both with the material and against it. In one way the fast pace helps because it never causes to expect the viewer to have a big laugh but rather picks them up on a wave of amusement and carries them quickly through the episodes – it is enjoyably brisk. The downside of that is that the episodes are in Spanish – a language which is as far from a slow Texan drawl as you can get even when it is spoken slowly, but here the delivery is accelerated on top of this so it is incredibly fast. To give you an idea of the issue – I don't speak Spanish so it should be easier with the subtitles, but to keep up with the spoken word even the subtitles are flying across the screen!
Technically it is much improved upon the pilot film, with a more professional look and better camera work. The use of narration rather than all dialogue delivered to-camera means that the variable sound quality is pretty much a non-issue apart from the times when a few words are spoken in this way, then the difference is clear. The performances are mostly fleeting, with physical exaggeration since they have little or no dialogue, but mostly they are suitable and work well, while Gurrea is comfortable and likable in front of the camera.
It isn't amazing and it lacks structure as a series (it has a frame at least though) but while it is not hilarious, it has a lovely comic phrasing to all the narration and this is delivered at pace so that it is a fairly consistent wave of amusement which I enjoyed through all the episodes.
The pilot for this series was quite low-cost to say the least, but it had a good energy and a few nice laughs. The show itself sees the budget raised but inherently it continues to do the same thing. There is no reason for the structure and the episodes don't really feel connected apart from having the same central character – particularly since they are all so short and we jump through some very large life situations. This does mean you see the show as a series of unconnected shorts in a narrative sense, but this really doesn't matter because each of them does work on their own merits. To be blunt, the show is based around observational comedy which is then slightly exaggerated to increase the humor; it is never hilariously funny but it is consistently amusing and gave me a few good chuckles along the way.
The content is one thing but to me it was the manner of delivery that made it work. The phrasing of sentences is nicely done so that they embrace the absurdity more by the choice of words or sentences – it is hard to describe but it is pretty well written from this point of view as even the most ordinary of situations is given a flourish with the language; it is also impressive that the subtitles keep this humor even as it translate into English. The pacing works both with the material and against it. In one way the fast pace helps because it never causes to expect the viewer to have a big laugh but rather picks them up on a wave of amusement and carries them quickly through the episodes – it is enjoyably brisk. The downside of that is that the episodes are in Spanish – a language which is as far from a slow Texan drawl as you can get even when it is spoken slowly, but here the delivery is accelerated on top of this so it is incredibly fast. To give you an idea of the issue – I don't speak Spanish so it should be easier with the subtitles, but to keep up with the spoken word even the subtitles are flying across the screen!
Technically it is much improved upon the pilot film, with a more professional look and better camera work. The use of narration rather than all dialogue delivered to-camera means that the variable sound quality is pretty much a non-issue apart from the times when a few words are spoken in this way, then the difference is clear. The performances are mostly fleeting, with physical exaggeration since they have little or no dialogue, but mostly they are suitable and work well, while Gurrea is comfortable and likable in front of the camera.
It isn't amazing and it lacks structure as a series (it has a frame at least though) but while it is not hilarious, it has a lovely comic phrasing to all the narration and this is delivered at pace so that it is a fairly consistent wave of amusement which I enjoyed through all the episodes.