This is the last film I saw at the SFIFF was <a target='_blank' href='http://us.imdb.com/Title?0283900'>Spanish Apartment</a> and it may be the one I liked best. It's a pretty straightfoward comedy about a Parisian college student who takes years off from school to study abroad in Barcelona. There, he finds lodging in a cramped apartment shared by a motley assortment of students from all over Europe. He quickly settles in and all manner of hijinks and affairs (and very little studying) ensue. It's kind of like a two-hour episode of <i>Friends</i> except that it's actually well-written and funny.

A persistent theme throughout is that of identifying the culture of a federated Europe; at a few points, I actually felt like it hit me over the head with this ("gee, look at the kooky people from different countries who don't always get along but still share a common bond...blah blah blah"). In that context, I couldn't help but wonder why Eastern Europe wasn't invited to the party. Maybe there really aren't any Romanians studying in Spain, I dunno.

Americans, on the other hand, are not so fortunate as to be completely overlooked. The token Yankee is a guitar-slinging cowboy boytoy from Santa Fe, who is (justifiably) referred to as 'stupid American' at least once and whose few lines consist primarily of howling like a dog. His appearance is brief, though, and really didn't bother me very much.

However, it wouldn't have bothered me at all had the film not gone out of its way to dismantle this sort of stereotype as it is applied to Europeans. This occurs when a younger brother visits the crew and quickly alienates himself from everyone with his insensitive cariacatures of various European nationalities (the anal German, the messy Italian, the mumbling Frenchman). The filmmakers clearly <i>want</i> the audience to be irritated because in the backlash against these ridiculous stereotypes, they will be better able to recognize their own European-ness.

American stereotypes, however, are apparently still fair game, and it just feels like a cheap shot. Because of this, and contrary to some claims, I would argue that this film is <i>not</i> about promoting cross-border understanding generally; rather, it's exclusively about forging a European identity (and a Western European one, at that).

This is just (lengthy) quibbling, though; I really did find this film funny and enjoyable. And being an American in the age of Freedom Fries, I suppose I don't have much license to pout, anyway.