Living is Easy with Eyes Closed
(Vivir Es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados)
David Trueba / Spain / 2013 / 108 min
Spanish with English subtitles
With Javier Cámara, Natalia de Molina, Francesc Colomer
WINNER 6 GOYA AWARDS 2014. “Beatles fans will recognize the title; the words stem from the Beatles song «Strawberry Fields Forever». John Lennon wrote it in 1966, while in southern Spain playing a minor character in Richard Lester’s anti-war movie HOW I WON THE WAR. This forms the backdrop of David Trueba’s film about Antonio, a Spanish schoolteacher who is also an avid Beatles-fan. When he learns that Lennon is filming in Almeria, he sets out to meet him. Along the way he makes friends with Belen, a twenty-year-old girl pregnant girl who is on her way home to her family, and Juanjo, a teenage boy. Lennon’s words take on special significance in a story set in Franco’s Spain.
LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED is a charming roadmovie that manages to convey both the carefree attitude of the period as well as its darker undertone.”