Review by Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Paco León
Starring: Carmen Machi, Paco León, Miren Ibarguren, Melani Olivares, Mariano Peña, Pepe Viyuela, Secun de la Rosa
What concerns me most about the incoming globalisation of television media, this encroaching fear that streaming giants will dominate domestic screens with their metricised content, is the inevitability of flattening the viewing experience: ironing out cultural idiosyncrasy, smoothing out representational nuance and peculiarities of identity and eccentricity. Basically, the likelihood that we are all going to be watching not the same thing, but the same sort of thing: even now, the phrase "Netflix Show" has connotations we can all recognise. As it stands, due to rising budgets it is impossible for any European "quality drama" to get made without the collaboration of several producers. These interests are often international, with the generated shows calibrated towards a mainstream intercontinental median. In opposition, the genres which will always escape homogenisation are soap operas and comedy: whenever I travel I tune into the domestic channels and try to locate the soaps and sitcoms (yes, I am a right laugh on holidays) as a cultural barometer. No media gives a lucid picture of a national representation, how people enjoy seeing themselves reflected and the things which they find amusing.
But the payoff for this genre distinction is such shows are restricted towards a localised narrowcast. Unlike the chiaroscuro compulsions of Scandi-Noir or the sci-fi sprawls of Dark, comedy and soap operas don't travel, too located they are within specific societal contexts. In the run up to watching Aida, the Movie, Paco León's (with story co-written by Fer Pérez) meta-comedy predicated upon the making of an episode of existent but cancelled sitcom Aida, I watched a few episodes of the Spanish show as research. Frankly, it wasn't for me. It's not just the language barrier (I do have un poco de español), but the alien hyperbole of the circumstances, the cruel bawdiness. Fuck do I know though, as Wikipedia informs that Aida was the "most-viewed show in Spain from 2007 until the end of its run [and] it has also received several awards, including the Ondas Award for Best Spanish Sitcom." Domestic audiences clearly gelled with its adult themes and representations of what are rendered as exotic sexual others: the gay, the sex worker, drug addicts. In a way it sort of reminded me of Mrs Brown's Boys, a pantomime salacity wherein all and sundry are subject to an apparently warm-hearted mockery.
Irl, Aida finished in 2014 running for 10 seasons (despite the titular character being written out in season six-!) , the same as Friends. The premise of Aida, the Movie is that the show never ended, nor did Carmen Machi leave, and the cast and crew now reconvene for a final show. In much the same meta-manner as the highly ambitious but regrettably forgotten ITV Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach diptych, we witness behind the scenes as the cast table read, rehearse and indulge the typical petty squabbles of any workplace, along with watching scenes of the eventual production. Furthermore, we follow cast members in their daily lives, too, as they face the vicissitudes of fame.
Aida, the Movie is set in 2018, pre-Covid and just before streaming stranglehold atomised viewing habits. It's also located in the #metoo era and the early days of cancel culture, movements which the narrative of Aida, the Movie explicitly address and cheekily satirise (something to cherish about the movie is its South Park-esque commitment to universal mockery).
To wit, the plot of the episode del momento features a little person who also has hypertrichosis. The script refers to him as "an Ewok" and a "peanut hurling inbred." Some cast members are uncomfortable with the appellations, but the real drama occurs when one of them makes a faux pas about the fella in a magazine interview, a story which goes viral and leads to her cancellation, adding to the already heavy stress of the production. Furthermore, it turns out that the "Ewok" is himself a creep, an inverse Gregg Wallace, who makes the female cast members uncomfortable...
León (who also reprises his role as Luisma) depicts bts proceedings with the loose energy of Altman, with floating cameras capturing overlapping seemingly improvised dialogue and a pleasing buzz of industry. The proposed authenticity is however juxtaposed with an otherwise dramatic hyperreality, at times unfavourably, a mode which is less documentary, more sitcom. For example, when Twitter blows up at her comments, despite being at home alone Miren Ibarguren makes a direct address scream to camera: a very sitcom gesture.
Aida, the Movie is an interesting curio. The main problem with it, the Ewok in the room, is even before the challenges of translating humour, there is the issue that the film is not self-sufficient, and is, of course, built upon a familiarity and understanding of the original show; its plot dynamics and characters (yes, yes, much as the case will be for every Charli fan and gay when The Moment is released, I know). It's like being invited to a party where you don't know anyone, even though each guest seems to be lovely and having the best time ever. I suspect, nonetheless, that for the manifest fans of Aida the show, Aida, the Movie will be an unparalleled joy which not only provides nostalgic pleasures but a refreshing commentary on the established and beloved sitcom. This, after all, is a genre which works its way into our hearts like no other (despite everything, I usually stream an episode of Father Ted at bedtime, its gentle rhythms and cosiness easing the chaos and me into sleep), and the final scenes of Aida, the Movie reflect the sitcom's momentous relevance, its ability to bring us together through shared humour and a profound sense of our common humanity.
Aida, the Movie is in US cinemas now. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
