Fuente Alamo, the Caress of Time

This portrait of the the titular Spanish village as it prepares for its annual August 14 gazpacho dance and celebration is a gentle, observational piece with poetic, mysterious appeal. However, writer/director García's specific intentions remain essentially unclear in his coupling of the sounds of Iguana Radio with a surreal emphasis on pet tortoises and cats or in the mini-portraits of villagers (a melon seller, the water-supply worker, smiling, whispering children), with the recital of rabbit gazpacho menus, and the opening up of surrounding mountain vistas, and you are left quessing whether the film's intended as a 'constructed' documentary describing a way of life, or an art movie essay on evanescence and spiritual essence.