Spain

  • Isabel Coixet – Ayer No Termina Nunca AKA Yesterday Never Ends (2013)

    Drama2011-2020Isabel CoixetSpain

    Year 2017. Barcelona. A couple reunites after five years of not seeing each other and after going through some tragic incidents in their past in their lives. She had stayed in Spain while he moved to Germany. Two ways of facing the current economic crisis: she preferred the idealism of staying and struggling to change the situation, and he left everything behind, a more lucid and logical point of view. When they both feel that the past is no longer important, it suddenly comes back. Unhealed wounds will always remain open. Read More »

  • Guillermo del Toro – El Laberinto Del Fauno aka Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

    2001-2010DramaFantasyGuillermo del ToroSpain

    In 1944 falangist Spain, a girl, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she’s a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.Read More »

  • Rubin Stein – Bailaora AKA The Flamenco dancer (2018)

    2011-2020MysteryRubin SteinShort FilmSpain

    “A war. A girl. A dream”.

    “Bailaora” is the third and last short film in the trilogy “Luz & Oscuridad ” (Light & Dark).
    Nominated for Best Fiction Short Film at the Goya Awards 2019Read More »

  • Albert Serra – Els noms de Crist AKA The Names of Christ (2010)

    Arthouse2001-2010Albert SerraExperimentalSpain

    Filmmaker Albert Serra specifically conceived the series The Names of Christ (2010) for the exhibition Are You Ready for TV? It consists of 14 episodes, with a total duration of 193 minutes, and is based on the book The Names of Christ (1572-1586), by Friar Luis de León. Serra constructs a narrative based on a free, poetic structure, which ironically deconstructs the conventions and grammars of the film, art and television worlds.Read More »

  • Pedro Almodóvar – Los abrazos rotos AKA Broken Embraces (2009)

    2001-2010DramaPedro AlmodóvarSpain

    Review from DVDTalk

    THE FILM
    For his 17th film, Pedro Almodovar doesn’t exactly break new ground with “Broken Embraces,” instead fine-tuning his gifts and decadent cinematic appetites to a satisfying routine. A spiraling, sensual story of noirish obsession and paranoia, “Embraces” is a riveting sit, due in great part to the filmmaker’s incredible storytelling gifts, and the cast, who articulate a dreamy series of toxic encounters with sniper-like precision, tightening Almodovar’s noose with exceptional skill.Read More »

  • Antonio Mercero – Planta 4ª aka The 4th Floor (2003)

    2001-2010Antonio MerceroComedyDramaSpain

    With Slaughterhouse 5 Kurt Vonnegut revealed that humour can be exploited in two ways: to make people roll over the floor laughing and to underscore the graveness of earnest problems. While Antonio Mercero’s Spanish dramatic comedy Planta 4ª (The 4th Floor) doesn’t tackle WWII but “only” possibly terminally ill children, its use of humour is similar. While it would be harsh to nickname the film Slaughterhouse 4 (the young patients of the cancer ward on the titular fourth floor all have at least one amputated limb), it shares with Vonnegut its exploitation of laughter in the face of the incomprehensible, or indeed the only sane way to confront the inexplicable madness of disease and death.Read More »

  • Victor Erice, Claudio Guerín & José Luis Egea – Los Desafíos aka The Challenges (1969)

    Drama1961-1970Claudio GuerínJosé Luis EgeaSpainThrillerVictor Erice

    Synopsis:
    Dean Selmier plays an expatriate American in each story of this trilogy. Francisco Rabal and his family star in the first feature filmed at the Rabal family home in Madrid. An over aggressive American soldier tries to put the moves on his wife and daughter before he is clubbed and thrown into the swimming pool. Part two finds a hippie couple slain at the country home of a wealthy local (Alfredo Mayo) after the young woman is offered to him for money and the boy makes love to the man’s wife. In part three, an American man, a Cuban girl, two Spanish students and a chimpanzee throw a dance party before the American plants a bomb that destroys everyone. (allmovie)Read More »

  • Achero Mañas – El Bola AKA Pellet (2000)

    Drama1991-2000Achero MañasSpain

    Quote:
    El Bola, a 12 year old boy a.k.a. “Pellet” is a 12 year old boy raised in a violent and sordid environment. Embarrassed by his family life, he avoids becoming close to classmates. The arrival of a new boy at school changes his attitude towards his classmates, and friendship. The heart of the story is the change in El Bola’s life, at almost all levels, after befriending this new classmate.Read More »

  • Roberto Saura, Luis Barrios, Manel Iglesias – El partido del siglo: Puskas AKA The game of the century: Puskas (1999)

    1991-2000DocumentaryLuis BarriosManel IglesiasRoberto SauraSpain

    Puskás started his career in Hungary playing for Kispest and Budapest Honvéd. He was top scorer in the Hungarian League on four occasions, and in 1948, he was the top goal scorer in Europe. During the 1950s, he was both a prominent member and captain of the Hungarian national team, known as the Mighty Magyars. In 1958, two years after the Hungarian Revolution, he emigrated to Spain where he played for Real Madrid.Read More »

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