Gordos - The Weighty

After "darkblueblack" director Daniel Sánchez Arévalo follows up with "Gordos", a new crowd-pleaser that focuses on a group of overweight people. Three men and two women meet in a support group to explore the reasons for their obesity. They face their fears, discuss their dreams and learn not to always swallow everything, but to finally talk openly about it all.

The dramatic comedy allows the audience a glimpse into the lives of the five very different people. It's funny at times, sad at others, whimsical at others, and surprisingly sexy. The film works not only because of the endearing characters and their oh-so-human problems, which everyone can probably relate to. It is also to the makers' credit that here in no second is made fun of fat people in a typically clichéd way.

That would also be completely out of place, because after a few minutes it becomes clear that the actual problems of the participants of the self-help group (and partly also their partners) have only superficially something to do with weight. There are much deeper things that the film and its characters have to deal with. Sure, there are a few typical weight jokes in "Gordos", but they're thankfully not quite as flat as one might have feared given the subject matter.

Admittedly, there are a few minor lengths over the course of the nearly two hours, and not all of the plot lines really work, but that's made up for with a very important ingredient that makes the film so worth watching: "Gordos" has a lot of heart. If you like European arthouse cinema of the slightly quirkier kind, you should definitely grab a seat at this heavyweight self-help group. Thanks to many nice ideas and the sympathetic actors applies: despite small weaknesses worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp