Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (2013)

Why so much hype?

best movie i've ever seen.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

"Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed" (2013 release from Spain) brings the story of Antonio, a thirty-something English teacher. The time is 1066 and the place is Spain. Antonio is Beatles-obsessed, and as the movie opens we see him using the lyrics of "Help" to teach his class. When Antonio finds out that John Lennon is in southern Spain (to film "How I Won the War"), Antonio decides to drive down, determined to meet Lennon. Along the way, Antonio picks up two teenage runaways: first there is Belén, whom we later learn escaped from a nuns' caretaker place to go back to her mom in Malaga. A bit later there is Juango, a 16 yr. old who tired of his father's dictatorial antics. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see it for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from well-known Spanish writer-director David Trueba (he also brought us "Madrid, 1987"). Here, Trueba mixes facts (Lennon was indeed in Almeria, Spain then, and he did write the basis for "Strawberry Fields Forever" at that time) and fiction (the three main characters) to bring us a wonderful little film about the hopes and dreams of these three people who come to depend on each other more than they realize, and along the way find a renewed lease on life. The movie does a great job of establishing the insecurities and flaws of the main characters, without ever going overboard or falling into sentimentalism.Natalia de Molina (remarkably similar in appearance to Dakota Johnson) is sensational as Belén You'll enjoy the movie even more if you are a Beatles fan (is there anyone who doesn't like the Beatles?). At one point, Antonio laments the fact that the Beatles albums do not contain the lyrics to the songs. "John, give us a break!", he sighs, ha! Also, I don't know this for a fact, but I believe that the demo version that we hear in the movie of "Strawberry Fields Forever" is the same one that we hear (partially) on the Beatles Anthology 2 compilation0.I recently stumbled upon this movie while browsing the foreign film section at my local library. So glad that I picked this up! As the movie approached its conclusion, I so wished that it could've played just a little longer, as I was not ready to say goodbye to these three endearing characters. If you are in the mood for a top notch foreign movie, you cannot go wrong with this. "Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

"Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed" is a beautiful movie. The acting and direction are charming and fresh. I particularly loved the film and felt connected to it, even though I am not the greatest Beatles fan.The story is of an English teacher, obsessed with The Beatles, particularly with John Lennon. He is planning to meet John Lennon in person and ask him a bunch of questions, or maybe simply talk to him. Don't all of us dream of doing the same with our favorite celebrity? On his way, while driving his cute 60s car, he picks up two young hitchhikers.The story has a slow pace, focusing on characters rather than action. The pace allows us to get acquainted with the characters, know their stories and their purposes. The pace might be too slow for some people, I am pretty sure my boyfriend doze off for some minutes while watching.As for me, I loved the way the characters were developed, while the actors portrayed them beautifully. I loved the relationship between Antonio, a middle-aged guy, and the two young hitchhikers, one of whom is only sixteen: while he occasionally gives them some lessons about life ("no matter what you do, you cannot live in fear!"), he treats them as adults and respects their decisions ("you must have been an adult when you got into this situation, I'm sure you'll solve it as an adult").A gorgeous little gem to watch, it has a heart-warming feeling and some characters that are as human as they can get.

"Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed" is an odd little slice of life movie. The acting and direction are quite nice, though otherwise I didn't particularly love the film or felt connected to it. Perhaps it might be different for you--particularly if you are a Beatles fan.The film is set in Spain in 1966. A completely obsessed English teacher dreams of meeting his idol, John Lennon. And, when Lennon comes to Spain to film "What I Did in the War", impulsively he sets off on a cross-country trek to see the singer. Along the way he picks up a runaway teen and pregnant young lady and they set off for the movie set.All of this unfolds very slowly. VERY. This didn't bother me, though I am pretty sure many folks will balk at this. As for me, my problem was that although the characters were mildly interesting due to the acting, they were only mildly interesting. I didn't really care about them or their pursuit. Not a bad film at all but one that left me feeling curiously disinterested.

I gave this film a chance. It was on TV. I was in doubt. Then I realized how good it is. Pure Poetry. A journey through relationships, events and symbols. It looks like all the characters are so well designed, the relationship in between them. Two worlds are presented, the old generation vs the new generation, the hippie one. It has some nice landscapes also. It has a very nice music. It has rhythm. The movie is so well designed; you can meet in this movie three characters, one belonging to the adult generation, a teacher, and two kids. But I don't want to spoil it. You can also find lots of wisdom in this film. Just give it a try! Give it a try!