Orange Honey (Spanish: Miel de naranjas; Portuguese: Doce Amargo Amor) is a 2012 Spanish-Portuguese period drama film directed by Imanol Uribe which stars Iban Garate, Blanca Suárez and Karra Elejalde alongside Eduard Fernández, Carlos Santos, José Manuel Poga, Bárbara Lennie, Ángela Molina and Nora Navas.

Orange Honey
Theatrical release poster
SpanishMiel de naranjas
PortugueseDoce Amargo Amor
Directed byImanol Uribe
Written byRemedios Crespo
Starring
CinematographyGonzalo Berridi
Edited byBuster Franco
Music byNuno Malo
Production
companies
  • Alta Producción
  • Fado Filmes
Distributed byAlta Classics (es)
Release dates
  • 22 April 2012 (2012-04-22) (Málaga)
  • 1 June 2012 (2012-06-01) (Spain)
  • 9 October 2014 (2014-10-09) (Portugal)
Countries
  • Spain
  • Portugal
LanguageSpanish

Plot

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Set in Andalusia in the 1950s, during the Francoist dictatorship, the plot concerns the switch towards clandestinity of Enrique, a young conscript engaged to Carmen.[1]

Cast

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Production

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Film set in Plaza de la Asunción, Jerez, in September 2011.

Orange Honey is a joint Spanish-Portuguese co-production by Alta Producción and Fado Filmes,[4][3] with participation of TVE.[1] Shooting locations included Jerez and Madrid.[5]

Release

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The film screened at the 15th Málaga Film Festival on 22 April 2012.[6] Distributed by Alta Classics, the film had a wide release in Spanish theatres on 1 June 2012.[2] Likewise, the release in Portuguese theatres was scheduled for 9 October 2014.[7]

Reception

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Javier Ocaña of El País assessed that the writing by Remedios Crespo, "has flair, affection for his characters and a surprising naturalness in bringing together stories from both sides", even if possibly missing more dialogues concerning a deeper political-social reflection, while considering Uribe's direction to be professional and neat yet lacking any punch or surprise, hence the fresh elements in the film rather come from the combination of some script lines and some of the performances.[8]

Jonathan Holland of Variety underscored the film to be a "well-appointed but unexciting historical thriller", with the film mixing politics, history and passion "into plodding fare", even if there are "a couple of memorable, touching scenes" towards the end of the film.[1]

Fausto Fernández of Fotogramas scored 2 out of 5 stars, writing about the film's "languishing" tone and lack of passion, underpinning "a mechanical illustration", while pointing out that, within its "atonic" formal correctness, there are however sequences where Karra Elejalde shines as a villainous military judge.[9]

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2012 15th Málaga Film Festival Silver Biznaga for Best Direction Imanol Uribe Won [10]
Silver Biznaga for Best New Screenwriter Remedios Crespo Won
2015 4th Sophia Awards Best Original Score Nuno Malo Nominated [11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Holland, Jonathan (18 June 2012). "Orange Honey". Variety.
  2. ^ a b c d e Zorrilla, Mikel (1 June 2012). "Estrenos de cine | 1 de junio | El otro regreso de Blancanieves". Espinof.
  3. ^ a b ""Miel de Naranjas", com co-produção portuguesa, premiado em Espanha". ionline.sapo. 30 April 2012.
  4. ^ "2012. Películas españolas estrenadas" (PDF). Academia. Revista del Cine Español (193). Madrid: Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España: 64. October 2012. ISSN 2174-0097.
  5. ^ Guerrero, Rubén (21 January 2022). "Jaime Moreno, el polifacético actor jerezano que lleva 20 años en Madrid entre tablas de teatro, anuncios y Netflix". La Voz del Sur.
  6. ^ "Aplausos para 'Miel de naranjas' en el Festival de Málaga". Diario de Cádiz. 23 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Doce Amargo Amor". Cardapio. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  8. ^ Ocaña, Javier (31 May 2012). "Un país cuartelero". El País.
  9. ^ Fernández, Fausto (5 April 2012). "Miel de naranjas. Para incondicionales de nuestro melodrama de posguerra". Fotogramas.
  10. ^ Márquez, Jesús (28 April 2012). "'Los niños salvajes' corona el palmarés de la 15ª edición del Festival de Málaga". Ecartelera.
  11. ^ "Sophia 2015". Academia Portuguesa de Cinema. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
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