Double Feature

Director José Luis Garci has turned his camera inward on filmmakers and screenwriters to portray them as so selfabsorbed in the creative process that there is no other world no other human relationship that can compete As José Adolfo Marsillach and Federico Jesus Puente work together on a new screenplay their interactions with their family Josés teen daughters Federicos wife disappear under the allconsuming task of creation The daughters give up and go off on their own and the wife joins a convent while Federico barely notices And when the producer is interrupted by profound grief at the sudden death of his older son he almost automatically returns to thinking about the film project when the funeral has ended Garci honors many great directors at the beginning of this film and the film continues to play out as an elaboration on this homage an illustration both of the dedication and the cost of filmmaking no judgments given