Oscar-nominated Spanish actor Javier Bardem is Santa, an embittered, unemployed shipyard worker whiling away Mondays In The Sun - a gentle drama about frustration, friendship and powerlessness. Borrowing beer money and hanging out with his deadbeat pals (the alcoholic Celso Bugallo and cuckolded Luis Tosar), Santa is articulate and angry about how globalisation has ruined his life - but can't do nowt about it. Similarly, the film offers an affecting snapshot of a hopeless situation, but has, ultimately, nowhere to go.

Bardem - who broke through in the early 90s playing athletic studs in the bawdy farces of Bigas Luna - has grown into an actor of remarkable range and ability. He was 33 when he filmed this (the movie was made in 2002), but he seamlessly conveys the world-weary resignation of a fortysomething cynic. He's the charismatic centre of a film which recalls British dole dramas such as Brassed Off and The Full Monty, but lacks their clear stories. There's no redemptive big band send off or stripping finale here - which is both admirable and dissatisfying. Mondays In The Sun doesn't give the audience a break by offering a final scene which hints (however hollowly) that everything's going to be okay.

"BEST IN ITS QUIET BEATS"

Oddly, given the script doesn't pander to viewers, the treacly score insists on telling you how to feel. The film is best in its quiet beats - when an age-conscious man sweats out his hair dye waiting for an interview and when Bardem is reduced to babysitting: a picture of a proud man the 'free market' has imprisoned.

In Spanish with English subtitles.