It tells the story of 12 year-old Pablo – or Pellet as he is known, due to the steel ball lucky charm he carries everywhere – who befriends Alfredo, a new arrival at the school.
Alfredo initially seems distant and withdrawn, but a friendship nonetheless blossoms between the two boys.
Pellet finds his friend's family to be strange and exciting, especially compared with his own parents' mundane day-to-day existence. But his relationship with Alfredo's family does not sit well with his father, a violent and tormented man, who uses this as yet another excuse to abuse his son.
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 Director: Achero Maňas
Cast: Juan José Ballesta, Alberto Jiménez, Pablo Galán, Manuel Morón
Classification: 13 LV
Running Time: 90 minutes
A coming of age drama that focuses on friendship, family and the effects of domestic violence. |
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At the opposite end of the spectrum are Alfredo's family, a genuinely happy group, who take the young Pellet into their home and domestic circle with no qualms at all.
The director plays with imagery, contrasting Alfredo's father – superbly portrayed by Alberto Jimenez – a man with a number of “socially” unacceptable traits, including his profession as a tattoo artist, his HIV-positive gay friends and his shaven-headed and tattooed image, with that of Pellet's dad, who appears to be a clean-cut, normal shop-owner figure.
Pellet's lucky charm also appears to be a symbol of how he has steeled himself against the verbal and physical abuse that is regularly dished out by his father.
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Alfredo's father is unable to remain impassive to injustice and violence |
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Maňas also touches on the issues of HIV/Aids and senility, as the death of Alfredo's godfather from the disease – and his family's reaction to it – is contrasted with the callous way Pellet's family treat his senile grandmother.
The director's underlying message seems to be that bad things happen to good people, but as long as there are others who care what happens, it is possible to come through even the worst situations.
In some ways, the film is reminiscent of another coming of age movie, the brilliant River Phoenix vehicle, “Stand By Me”, although the child abuse angle taken by Maňas makes this one far darker and more sinister.
“Pellet” is a Cinema Nouveau release and will appeal to lovers of continental art house movies, and especially to fans of the director's short films, “Hunters”, “Artificial Paradises” and “Metro”. It is filmed in Spanish, with English subtitles.
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