Antonio Castro 'Sinatra' (Alfredo Landa) performs in Barcelona as a Frank Sinatra impersonator. His wife (Mercedes San Prieto) leaves him and 'Sinatra' ends up in a boarding house or Pensión in Chinatown run by Clementina (Queta Claver) , where he begins to work as a night porter . One night , Antonio sees an advertisement for a friendship club in a magazine and decides to become a member. From now on , he begins to receive letters and to have relationships with strangers who, like him, feel alone and lost in the big city.
A depressing mixture of drama and comedy (Dramedy) does not quite come together as it should , resulting to be an uneven film that works at times , above all due to Landa's great performance as the eternal loser, an intimate role in a curious contrast to the real Sinatra , as well as the excellent characterization of that world , being accompanied by great cast of notorious secondaries , such as : Manuel Alexandre , Luis Ciges, Queta Claver , Mercedes Sampietro, Julia Martínez, Antonio Molino Rojo and Joaquín Sabina himself playing Groucho Marx . It shows the seedy bars , and the slums full of prostitutes from the sleazy Chinatown , Barcelona , before Olympic Games 92 . ¨Sinatra" is a walk through the underworld of Barcelona led by the peculiar loser , role magnetically played by Alfredo Landa, a guy who -like the characters in Noir novels- wants to get out of his own misery , an impersonator of the legendary Frank Sinatra who acts in a seedy show along with other characters of dubious aspect.
Here Alfredo Landa really excels as a depressed man who works as an imitator of Frank Sinatra in a small local night club in Barcelona . Nevertheless, the film lacks some bite to finish working , which does not mean that it is not interesting enough. Worth noting is the soundtrack, composed by Joaquín Sabina -along with Pancho Varona- , who also makes a couple of appearances in the film , and which includes some of his unpublished songs , as well as others that would appear in a different version on his discographic albums . In fact, some of the brightest moments in the film are those in which the plot progresses while Sabina's highly narrative songs are performed , giving the film a certain appearance of a video clip.
However, when it wants to provide a certain humor to the story , it fails, some characters are too burdensome and troublesome , such as "Brother Blanco Sol" or the widow's son , who is completely implausible and expendable . As soon as the character of Ana Obregón appears things go wrong , as she was extremely criticized for her way of acting . Something more misplaced is the role of Maribel Verdú as a nutty , druggie teenager from which one expected more , despite the fact that she's a good actress here provides a lousy performance . The film also fails to present Sinatra's character in his cabaret in such an elliptical way, we barely see him , although it is true that the little that comes out is good , especially thanks to characterization that Landa makes along with Joaquín Sabina as Groucho Marx.
But the film is acceptable as a whole , the choice of the night is completely correct to be able to follow it in a more convincing way with that world of bingos , swindlers , prostitution and insecurity. Images like the Cine Coliseum from Barcelona with the luminous sign of "Pal Joey" with Frank Sinatra , Rita Hayworth , Kim Novak and Landa watching , catch us and we end up taking a certain affection for him .
In short , a failed film but also with a certain dignity made by Betriu who demonstrates his skills but lacks something , either because footage was reduced or he was forced to incorporate scenes to dedramatize the film. The motion picture was well produced by Enrique Viciano , being regular but professionally directed by veteran filmmaker Francesc Betriu . He directed a series of award-winning movies firmly establishing him as one of the best Spanish filmmakers . Betriu was an expert on literary adaptations , he worked from the 60s , being his first one : Tinto con amor (1968) , following the following ones : Corazón solitario , Furia española , La plaza del Diamante , Los fieles sirvientes , La viuda andaluza , Sinatra , La Duquesa Roja , Una Perfecta Pareja, El paraíso ya no es lo que era, among others and his greatest hit was Requiém para un campesino Español . Rating : 5.5/10. Only for hardcore Alfredo Landa fans.
