In 2022, Movistar+ presented on its platform the documentary series Locomía, directed by the Jerez native Jorge Laplace, which we found to be a very interesting approach to a musical, but above all sociological, phenomenon that from the late 80s to almost the mid-90s was certainly surprising, the appearance of the musical group of that name, Locomía, although it can also be written Loco Mía, an “electro-pop” group that started from a double circumstance: impossible outfits, halfway between a circus clown and a Picasso-like bullfighter, with gigantic shoulder pads, clothing designed by Xavi Font, the group's ideologist; and the commercial vision of the music producer José Luis Gil (nothing to do with his namesake, the actor and voice actor, famous as Mr. Cuesta from Aquí no hay quien viva), who knew how to see the enormous potential of those boys with ambiguous androgynous aesthetics.
In the review of that documentary, which was certainly very good (the documentary, not the review…), we said (and sorry for the self-quote, but it is accurate): “…in a story that, certainly, could be the plot of a very attractive fiction series, because there are more than enough elements for it.”
Director: Kike Maíllo
Writers: Marta-Libertad Castillo, Kike Maíllo
Stars: Jaime Lorente, Alberto Ammann, Alejandro Speitzer
Well, it seems that we were not the only ones who thought so, because here we have a feature-length fiction film in which the essential facts, the creation, the rise and the fall of the group are dramatized.
The film begins with a somewhat peculiar caption, narrated by a girl, who says, more or less, that this is the story of Locomía, although some names and also some circumstances have been changed, but that in essence that is the story. From there, we meet Xavi Font, a young Catalan, openly gay, who emigrated to Ibiza in the eighties in search of the libertine fame of the island.
There, with a group of like-minded people, mostly boys, but also a girl, Lurdes Iríbar, they try to survive as best they can by working as hairdressers, designers of clothes and accessories that they sell on the street, and even, in the last stage, as go-go dancers in nightclubs. There, the outlandish outfits of Xavi, Lurdes et alii attract the attention of producer José Luis Gil, who invites them to what he foresees could be an exciting adventure, forming a group, which they will name Locomía, as the boys already call themselves, which will revolutionize the Spanish and Latin American music scene in the following years…
We have a good opinion of the Catalan director Kike Maíllo; two of his previous feature films, Eva (2011) and Toro (2016), with very diverse themes, seemed very interesting and innovative to us. However, this Disco, Ibiza, Locomía, has a customized aspect that leaves you breathless.
Because the history of the ephemeral musical group was a bonbon that could not, should not be wasted, from the peculiarity of its origins, several evanescent ephebes who sang like crickets but who made their extravagant wardrobe and their gigantic fans their hallmarks, until its end, when the two leaders, Xavi Font and José Luis Gil, faced each other in a merciless fight that ended up destroying the name of Locomía, thus putting an end to the goose that laid the golden eggs.
But what was powerful and powerful in the documentary, especially in the confrontation between Font and Gil (each one separately in the interview they gave, skilfully edited), and which gave an idea of the extent to which the resentment of the first of them, but also the calculation and tactics of the second, destroyed a truly singular phenomenon, that strength and that power, I say/said (oh, Umbral, Umbral…), is not even remotely found in this film which, without being despicable, is clearly inferior to the documentary and, of course, is less than worthy of the story, told here around a (I don't know if supposed) prejudicial meeting of the parties with a mediator (wonderful Eva Llorach, as always), who tries to reach an agreement before going to court, told from that perspective, with the testimonies (and their correspondents) and with the help of a mediator (magnificent Eva Llorach, as always).
Jaime Lorente, in the role of Xavi Font, seems to us to be a miscast: Lorente is not a versatile actor who, however, since his rise to fame in La casa de papel, has been assigned several characters that probably surpass him: the legendary Ruy Díaz de Vivar in the miniseries El Cid, Ángel Cristo in the miniseries Cristo y Rey, and now this Xavi Font, leader of Locomía, a character in whom we do not quite believe, despite his efforts, which are recognized, such as the false feather that he brings to light, but which is hardly credible.
Blanca Suárez is better as Lurdes Iríbar, designer and initial member of the group, although in a secondary role, as a chorus girl. But the best of all seems to us to be Alberto Ammann, who, appropriately characterized, convincingly plays José Luis Gil, a systematic, pragmatic guy well positioned in the recording industry, who found in Locomía the philosopher's stone to transform lead (some guys who sang out of tune like clucking hens) into gold (a group that was the musical event of its time).
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