A slight anecdote expanded to slightly beyond its natural length, The Empty Hours is nevertheless time well spent.
The Empty Hours(Las horas muertas)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Spain, France, Mexico · 2013
1h 40m
Director Aarón Fernández Lesur
Starring Kristyan Ferrer, Adriana Paz, Eliseo Lara Martínez, Amaranta Abril
Genre Romance, Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
On the desolate coast of Veracruz, young Sebastián, 17, has to run his uncle's motel single-handedly, renting rooms by the hour. That's how he meets Miranda, a regular customer who goes there to wait for a lover who often arrives late, sparking a fleeting game of seduction between the two.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
Like everything else about this lovely film, life, love and emotional growth are marked out in lush, languid, luminous terms.
Aarón Fernández captures one of the most heartening elements of sex: that it doesn't always oblige our rules or expectations.
Fernandez (“Used Parts”) has a masterful handle on narrative, structure and character, skillfully blending them all in a tale with atmosphere to spare.
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Working with grace and patience, Mr. Fernández makes the mundane captivating.
Village Voice by Zachary Wigon
Full of long takes and matter-of-fact performances, melancholy low-contrast cinematography and desolate vistas suffused with acute loneliness, The Empty Hours captures the feeling of idling away the time, waiting for something to arrive.
Users who liked this film also liked
Spirited Away
(千と千尋の神隠し)
A ten-year-old girl must save her parents from hostile spirits.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2001
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Bunta Sugawara, Yumi Tamai, Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Genre Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Bridget Jones's Diary
All women keep score…Only the great ones put it in writing.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, United States • 2001
- Director Sharon Maguire
- Cast Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, James Callis
- Genre Comedy, Romance, Drama
- Available on Showtime Apple TV Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Memories of Murder
(살인의 추억)
A daring, nuanced story of the investigation around the man reported to be South Korea’s first serial killer, who was uncaught at the time of the film's release.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2003
- Director Bong Joon-ho
- Cast Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roe-ha, Song Jae-ho, Park Hae-il, Go Seo-hee
- Genre Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Vudu, Tubi TV
Slovenian Girl
(Slovenka)
Aleksandra has a plan to conquer the world, until an accidental death has her wrestling with fear, confusion, and responsibility.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Slovenia, Germany, Serbia • 2009
- Director Damjan Kozole
- Cast Nina Ivanišin, Peter Musevski, Primož Pirnat, Maruša Kink, Uroš Fürst, Dejan Spasič
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Whisperer of the Heart
(耳をすませば)
Shizuki lives a simple life, dominated by her love of stories and writing, until one day she meets her “Prince of Books.”
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1995
- Director Yoshifumi Kondou
- Cast Yoko Honna, Issey Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Keiju Kobayashi
- Genre Animation, Drama, Family
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Handmaiden
(아가씨)
Her heart may not be the only thing stolen.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2016
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Hae-sook, Moon So-ri
- Genre Drama, Romance, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, FilmBox+, Vudu
Wind River
A local tracker teams with an FBI agent to investigate the death of a young woman on a Native American reservation in Wyoming.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United States, United Kingdom, France • 2017
- Director Taylor Sheridan
- Cast Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Gil Birmingham, Kelsey Asbille, Teo Briones, Tantoo Cardinal
- Genre Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand, The Roku Channel
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Domestic bliss requires sacrifice.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Ireland, United States • 2017
- Director Yorgos Lanthimos
- Cast Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone
- Genre Drama, Thriller, Mystery
- Available on Showtime Apple TV Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Kanopy, Plex Channel
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2019
- Director Quentin Tarantino
- Cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Hulu, FXNow, fuboTV, Starz Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Joker
A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane, turning to a life of crime in chaos in Gotham City.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 2019
- Director Todd Phillips
- Cast Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham
- Genre Crime, Thriller, Drama
- Available on TNT, TBS, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand