thought another had brought the urn and that they had left it behind. They chortle. The group of friends stay out all night in the middle of the passage without any cares and by morning there is a large crowd around the ferry terminal watching the men from afar. The men chat casually while sitting in the morning sun as the credits begin to roll. Cast Production A Spanish-French-Italian co-production, Mondays in the Sun was produced by Elías Querejeta PC (Elías Querejeta) and Mediapro (Jaume Roures), alongside Quo Vadis Cinema (Jérôme Vidal), Eyescreen (Andrea Occhipinti), and Televisión de Galicia, in association with Continental Producciones (Pancho Casal), with the participation of and Antena 3. Shooting locations included Vigo. Release The film screened at the 50th San Sebastián International Film Festival in September 2002. It was theatrically released in Spain on 27 September 2002. Reception Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film to be "a powerful parable about unemployed men", "a tough-but-tender movie driven by perfectly modulated performances, an accomplished script and naturalistic dialogue". Manuel Vázquez Montalbán considered the film to be a "great film about the defeats of the 20th century and the difficulty of building secular hopes for the 21st [century]". Ángel Fernández-Santos of El País deemed Mondays in the Sun to be "a vibrant and beautiful film that contains a magnificent collective work", "a film of great distinction, a vigorous and seemingly linear story, but one of those that under its apparent simplicity, it touches on the major issues of people's lives in any part of the world", otherwise also writing about its "diaphanous script, bordering on perfection". Mirito Torreiro of Fotogramas rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, highlighting "the actors, all of them" as the film's standout, but [singling out] Bardem's performance in particular as simply amazing. The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain chose the film as Spain's submission to the 75th Academy Awards (over Talk to Her, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and won Best Original Screenplay), and to the 46th Ariel Awards. DVD release Mondays in the Sun is available on DVD in Spain by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on July 16, 2003 and in the US by Lionsgate Home Entertainment on October 28, 2003. It was released in Spain and in the United States. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. Awards |- |