Two Sides of the Bed
Reel Affirmations 2007
Los dos lados de la cama
Review by Tim Plant
Rating: 
(3 out of 5)
Monday, 10/15/2007, 9:00 PM
Feature presentation, $ at Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Spanish with English subtitles
A SPANISH-LANGUAGE, lesbian-themed musical? Como se dice ”WTF”?
Two Sides of the Bed has a little bit for everyone — lesbian affairs, broken hearts, absurd comedic situations, threesomes, and a crazed gang of taxi drivers. Oh, and don’t forget the talking fox and Melon Boy.
The plot of Two Sides is just plain wacky — three couples, a friend, and a drunk all mix and match lovers and beds. Best friends Javier (Ernesto Alterio) and Pedro (Guillermo Toledo) are jilted by their girlfriends, Marta (Verónica Sánchez) and Raquel (Lucía Jiménez), because the two women are having an affair. The men befriend local barfly Carlota (Pilar Castro), eventually vying for her attention, but she remembers her kindergarten lessons and knows how to share. With farcical scene following farcical scene, it’s entertaining even if there’s a lot of head scratching going on while trying to keep up with the plot.
A number of Spanish pop numbers — sung by the actors — are interspersed throughout, leading to a fun, on the edge of your seat game of wondering if dialogue or music is going to come out of someone’s mouth. With lines like ”Let me pass through the wind with no documents” however, I question how well these numbers translate — literally and artistically.
One must imagine that director Emilio Martinez Lázaro is behind the camera saying, ”Let’s just have fun.” And it is fun in its totally irreverent own way. If the improbability of a talking fox turns you off, then Two Sides of the Bed is not the film for you. But for those looking for something different in the Reel Affirmation line-up, this certainly qualifies. Disfruta! — TP
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