‘Every day a clever person is born’: few thanks in a satire on the Spain of the scam | Cinema: premieres and reviews

In the country of the picaresque, the cinema of little jobs and scams to try to climb the social ladder or maintain the one that has been achieved through tricks has always been a classic. Whether starting from sympathy and complicity, like the trilogy of proletarian criminals formed by The cheaters (1959), They knew too much (1962) y The gang of 11 (1963), starring those who saw theft not as a crime but as a profession. Or whether it was from the purest and noblest of anger, based on the injustice of feeling crushed every day by those above, an aspect in which the extraordinary Robbery at three (1962) holds the captaincy.

Inside and outside of literature (and movies), Spain has always been full of jetas, which is why the wonderful title of the film we are discussing is so representative, Every day a smart one is born, and the small banner that, like a famous contemporary meme, with a simple piece of cardboard and a witty phrase written with a marker, raises a nobody at the funeral of a nobody: “A thief has died.” A thief who is not exactly Tony Leblanc in the stamp scam The cheaters, nor López Vázquez slave, friend, admirer and servant of Robbery at three. The deceased is one of those rich people that everyone hates, with whom there is no possible empathy, a member of one of those families that, after jumping to the other neighborhood, fight among themselves over a painting that could equally be a goya (we have it these days in the newspapers) that a caravaggio (like in the movie).

which had a hard time getting to the feature film (sad genre tolls), . Eclectic and artisan, she has made five films in six years. Some, personal projects. Others, custom. Of unequal quality, yes, between the frankness, the enormous sympathy and the thick line of The perfect family y Politically incorrect. Every day a smart one is born, Unfortunately, it is much closer to the second group than the first. A comedy of rich and poor, of corruption, cocaine, famous paintings, television puppets and cash tickets with high numbers, between the posh and the shabby, filmed in luxurious locations in San Sebastián (among them, Anoeta, the Real Sociedad stadium), which, however, rarely comes together in its comedy.

With a script signed by Echevarría together with Patricia Campo, the film is a satire with notes by thriller, If there is one thing that stands out, it is because of its staging. There is rhythm, great perspectives and camera angles, and use of the settings, both indoors and outdoors. And good details, like those tail jokes that someone shouts into the wind, and that the director films in a long shot so as not to underline their comedy with shorter shots, and thus magnify them: that boy in the Nico Williams t-shirt shouting at the protagonist “Look for a house!” The excellent soundtrack by Zeltia Montes, with touches of spaguetti-western, It completes a good artistic ensemble in formal terms, above the average in national comedy.

Now, the content, that is, the situations and dialogues, barely provoke smiles, much less laughter. Above all, the conversations, with which its good cast can do little: from the main characters, and to the occasional appearances of the very funny debutant Marina Ostolaza. Be careful, they are not bad dialogues. But not good either.

The Basque atmosphere can at some point remind us of All for the money (1991), by Enrique Urbizu, although with what he actually seems to want to connect Every day a smart one is born es with (Galician jester, inclusive, and Diego Anido in the place of Manuel Manquiña). However, Echevarría and Campo’s script is too concerned with the intrigue of the robbery and much less with the characters and with fitting replies and counterreplies that produce the necessary physical reactions. The criticism of a certain Spain is there, but, despite its dynamism, if that diatribe doesn’t make you laugh too much (or almost at all), the entertainment is not even passing.