Aarcflick

Over the course of a career spanning nearly three decades and around a dozen films, Catalan screenwriter and director Cesc Gay has gradually shifted from the more distinctive and exploratory tone of his early works—titles such as *Krámpack*, *En la ciudad*, and *Ficción*—toward projects perceived as more distinctly commercial, both in form and in theme. The turning point appears to have been the success of *Truman*—that warm, humanist tragicomedy starring Ricardo Darín and Javier Cámara—which firmly established Gay within what, broadly speaking, might be termed mainstream Spanish cinema. Gay’s strengths have always lain in dialogue and performance. It is here that his sensibility manifests with the greatest precision: his mise-en-scène tends to revolve around the actors, functioning primarily as a vehicle for character interaction. *53 domingos* operates in a manner very similar to his previous stage-to-screen adaptations—with *Sentimental* serving as a recent and successful example—wh...