‘Patria’ Director Félix Viscarret Turns to More Personal Story of Parenting in ‘Not Such an Easy Life’
variety.comEd Meza @edmezavar Spanish filmmaker Félix Viscarret, known for tackling such heavy subject matter as the Basque conflict (“Patria”), crime in the Cuban capital Havana (“Four Seasons in Havana: Winds of Lent”) and psychological drama (“Staring at Strangers”), has made perhaps his most personal film yet with a touching and engrossing story of fatherhood and the pitfalls of success.
In “Not Such an Easy Life,” 40-year-old Isaías (Miki Esparbé), a once promising young architect, is struggling to balance career and family, wanting to raise his young children while desperate to achieve the fleeting professional success he once enjoyed as he strives against more ambitious rivals.
For Viscarret, Isaías’ challenges very much reflect his own experiences, which resulted in “Not Such an Easy Life.” “Perhaps it was a cluster of special situations that I began to live with as a parent,” he tells Variety. “For example, one day I saw all my childless friends leave for a premiere party, while I drove home with my children to put them to bed on time.
On the way my children fell asleep. I had to haul them home from the car, without waking them, crossing pedestrian crossings at night,” he says. “The city was empty at this time of night.
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