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Spanish
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BROWSE SPANISH FILMS: Contemporary Spanish films: ALPHABETICAL
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Kilometer Zero / Km.0 |
|
Drama / Comedy (2000)
Spain
Directors: Yolanda García Serrano, Juan Luis Iborra
Starring: Concha Velasco, Georges Corraface |
Synopsis: Located in Madrid's
Plaza del Sol, Km. 0 is the point from which all distances in
Spain are measured from the capital. In Km.
0, it is also the meeting point for a gallery of characters.
Bored, affluent housewife Marga (Concha Velasco) meets up with
gigolo Miguel (Jesus Cabrero), who co-habitates with gay Benjamin
(Miquel Garcia). Sergio, a soon-to-be-married office clerk who
can't wait to lose his virginity, makes the acquaintance of prostitute
Tatiana (Elisa Matilla), while gay dancer Bruno (Victor Ullate
Jr.) meets Maximo (Armando delRio). Meanwhile, wannabe director
Pedro (Carlos Fuentes) arranges to meet up with Silvia (Merce
Pons), an actress who wants to work in musicals directed by Gerardo
(George Corraface), and bartender Mario (Tristan Ulloa) is caught
between Amor (Silke), who wants to marry him, and her little sister
Roma (Cora Tiedra), who is truly in love with him.
By Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
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Felicidades |
|
Comedy (2000)
Argentina
Director: Lucho Bender
Starring: Luis Machín, Gastón Pauls |
Description: On a hot and muggy
Christmas Eve in Buenos Aires, everyone is hectically preparing
for the holidays. In a series of wry coincidences, an overworked
stand-up comic, a successful writer, a young father and a handsome
doctor cross paths as they try to make it through a night of most
peculiar circumstances. In his feature film debut, Bender carefully
balances a fast-paced story with sensitive character portraits,
revealing a style and sensibility that evoke Robert Altman’s
genius for interweaving plot lines and characters and Jim Jarmusch’s
depiction of surviving alienation and disillusionment. Argentinean
stars Gastón Pauls (Nine
Queens) and Silke (Km.
0) head a talented ensemble cast, creating a Christmas
classic with a Latin flair.
Review by Ali Davis
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Love's a Bitch / Amores perros |
|
Thriller / Drama (2000)
Mexico
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal |
Review: Amores
Perros roughly translates to "Love's a bitch,"
and it's an apt summation of this remarkable film's exploration
of passion, loss, and the fragility of our lives. In telling three
stories connected by one traumatic incident, Mexican director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu uses an intricate screenplay by novelist
Guillermo Arriaga to make three movies in close orbit, expressing
the notion that we are defined by what we lose--from our loves
to our family, our innocence, or even our lives. These interwoven
tales--about a young man in love with his brother's pregnant wife,
a perfume spokeswoman and her married lover, and a scruffy vagrant
who sidelines as a paid killer--are united by a devastating car
crash that provides the film's narrative nexus, and by the many
dogs that the characters own or care for. There is graphic violence,
prompting a disclaimer that controversial dog-fight scenes were
harmless and carefully supervised, but what emerges from Amores
Perros is a uniquely conceptual portrait of people whom
we come to know through their relationship with dogs. The film
is simultaneously bleak, cynical, insightful, and compassionate,
with layers of meaning that are sure to reward multiple viewings.
Review by Jeff Shannon
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Our Lady of the Assassins / La virgen de los sicarios |
|
Drama (2000)
Spain / Columbia
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Starring: Germán Jaramillo, Anderson Ballesteros
|
Review: [...] After
a string of lackluster Hollywood films, director Barbet Schroeder
returns to form with this layered, visually arresting Spanish-language
feature in which the voice of reason and moral accountability
is an atheistic, middle-aged writer with a taste for wiry, beautiful
young boys and a chasm of regret a mile wide running through his
soul. Colombian stage actor German Jaramillo brings an air of
tragic aestheticism and knowing contradiction to the difficult
role of expatriate writer Fernando Vallejo; his transformation
from self-pitying observer to thoughtful, yet active participant
in his homeland's struggles parallels the audience's journey from
titillation to emotional investment and, ultimately, spiritual
devastation. The irony and ambiguity of La
Virgen de los Sicarios, however, permeates far more than
just its indelible central character. This is a film that forces
us to indulge in our taste for humorous, cartoon violence, then
chokes the laughs before they've left our throats. It also forces
us to examine our complicity in the enjoyment of cheap beauty,
turning its romantic themes into a meditation on the intersection
of sex and money. Anderson Ballesteros and Juan David Restrepo,
playing parts very close to their actual lives on the streets
of Medellín, bring a primal mixture of beauty, affection,
and savagery to their roles as Vallejo's young hustler friends;
the apparent ease with which their characters navigate a world
of casual drive-bys and constant death suggests that the term
"amorality" loses its meaning when one is raised in
a world where human life has no value. The film's true star, however,
is Medellín itself -- a city whose shocking beauty, sickening
squalor, and frequent sacrilege are captured in crisp digital
video and accented by Schroeder's hallucinatory dream sequences.
Like Before
Night Falls -- another film whose gay themes are secondary
to its political and humanistic concerns -- La
Virgen de los Sicarios uses the figure of an outsider
artist to map out the darkest corners of our global society in
all its beauty and tragic desolation.
Review by Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
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Dust to Dust / Por la libre |
|
Comedy (2000)
Mexico
Director: Juan Carlos de Llaca
Starring: Osvaldo Benavides, Rodrigo Cachero |
Review: During
a family dinner in honor of his birthday, patriarch Rodrigo Carnicero
(Xavier Masse) drops dead of a heart attack. Among the witnesses
are his devoted daughter Pureza (Pilar Ixquic Mata) and his beloved
grandchildren Rocco (Osvaldo Benavides) and Rodrigo (Rodrigo Cachero).
Rocco and Rodrigo are cousins, though completely different; while
Rocco is laid-back and hippie-ish, Rodrigo is dour and conservative.
One thing Rocco and Rodrigo have in common, however, is their
loyalty to their departed grandfather, with whom they enjoyed
a closer relationship than with either of their self-absorbed
fathers. After Don Rodrigo's death, Rocco and Rodrigo take off
in the vintage car left to Rodrigo by his grandfather to dispose
of the don's ashes in the manner requested in his will. When they
arrive at the beach where their grandfather is to be scattered,
Rocco and Rodrigo lodge at a hotel run by Perla (Gina Morett)
and her daughter Maria (Ana de la Reguera). Chaos soon results
when the urn is lost, Rocco hooks up with Maria for his initiation
into sex, and the cousins discover that Perla once enjoyed intimate
relations with their beloved grandfather.
Review by Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
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|
Common Wealth / La Comunidad |
|
Comedy / Thriller (2000)
Spain
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Starring: Carmen Maura, Eduardo Antuña |
Review: With the influence of
the master of suspense engrained in every frame of the film right
down to the stunning opening credit sequence, flamboyant Spanish
director Alex de la Iglesia (Day
of the Beast, Purdita
Durango) weaves a hilariously dark tale of murderous greed
set among the quirky and menacing inhabitants of a tightly knitted
apartment complex in La
Comunidad. After discovering the 15-million-dollar booty
of a recently deceased tenant, middle-aged property saleswoman
Julia (Carmen Maura) thinks that she may have found the answers
to her dreams of finding something more in life. Little does she
know that the oddly menacing residents of the building know well
of the elusive treasure, and have been scheming for years and
building their dreams around aquiring the formerly well-guarded
winnings. As the greedy obsessions of all in question spiral unhinged
into a frenzy of desperation, Jorge Guerricaechevarria's clever
and snappy screenplay keeps the viewer constantly on their toes,
right up to the hilariously white-knuckled finale atop one of
Madrid's most notable landmarks. Equally effective is Roque Banos'
giddily dizzying score, taking a cue from Bernard Herrmann while
adding a spice of such contemporary influences as Danny Elfman.
Kiki de la Rico's murky lens lends the perfect creepy atmosphere
to the creaky old building, becoming increasingly frantic as greed
trickles from the drip of suspicion into a tidal wave of compulsive
madness. Nominated for 15 Goyas and taking home three, the film
won Best Special Effects and Best Supporting Actor (Emilio Gutuierrez
Caba), while Maura's visually unsettling transformation from carefree
working woman to a desperate money-hording beast earned her a
win for Best Lead Actress.
Review byJason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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|
Burnt Money / Plata quemada |
|
Action / Drama (2000)
Spain / Argentina / Uruguay
Director: Marcelo Piñeyro
Starring: Eduardo Noriega, Leonardo Sbaraglia |
Review: Love and
betrayal complicate a robbery gone wrong in this offbeat crime
thriller shot in Argentina. Angel (Eduardo Noriega) and El Nene
(Leonardo Sbaraglia) are a pair of small-time criminals hired
to take part in the robbery of an armored truck organized by mobsters
Nando (Carlos Roffe) and Fontana (Ricardo Bartis), who working
in cahoots with the driver, El Cuervo (Pablo Echarri). Angel and
El Nene are also lovers, and when the robbery goes sour and Angel
is shot by the police, El Nene is enraged and opens fire on the
officers, turning the heist into a bloodbath. Angel and El Nene
somehow escape and go into hiding, with El Nene attempting to
nurse Angel back to health. As the couple tries to avoid detection
in Uruguay, El Cuervo's moll, Vivi (Dolores Fonzi), tells the
police of their whereabouts under threat of torture. Meanwhile,
beginning to crack under cabin fever, Angel and El Nene slip into
town to visit a carnival, where El Nene's head is unexpectedly
turned by Giselle (Leticia Bredice), sparking murderous jealousy
in Angel. Plata
Quemada was adapted from a novel by Ricardo Piglia, which
was inspired by a true story.
Review by Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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|
Calle 54 |
|
Documentary (2000)
Spain
Director: Fernando Trueba
Starring: Michel Camilo, Tito Puente |
Review: In Calle
54, Madrid-based filmmaker Fernando Trueba explores the
wide and wonderful world of Latin jazz: a hybrid genre that fuses
the clave, samba, flamenco, merengue, and other rhythms from Africa,
the Iberian peninsula, and the Americas. The film's Spanish title
takes its name from Sony Music Studios located on 54th Street
in Manhattan, where a who's who of musicians were filmed and recorded.
They range from Brazilian bombshell keyboardist Eliane Elias and
enigmatic Argentine tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, to the fiery
rumba group Puntilla y Nueva Generacion. The music and musicians
of Cuba and Puerto Rico dominate this documentary, and the most
touching scene is the emotional father-and-son reunion of Cuban
pianists Bebo and Chucho Valdés, who were separated by
Fidel Castro's revolution. Sadly, the film features the last onscreen
appearances by the late composer-arranger Chico O'Farrill and
the legendary timbales master Tito Puente. Simply put, Calle
54 is a documentary that dances.
Review by Eugene Holley, Jr.
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Nine Queens / Nueve reinas
|
|
Crime / Drama (2000)
Argentina
Director: Fabián Bielinsky
Starring: Gastón Pauls, Ricardo Darín |
Review: Nine
Queens joins a line of sly thrillers about master-pupil
con artists and games within games within games that includes
The
Sting, House
of Games, and Heist.
In the first five minutes, we watch an overt scam--a young Argentinian
named Juan (Gastón Pauls) running the two-10s-for-a-5 hornswoggle
on a convenience store clerk--then find that we have been tricked
along with the bystanders as another brand of deception kicks
in. And so it goes as Juan, with both trepidation and excitement,
drifts into partnership for a day with an older, more cosmopolitan
conman, Marcos (Ricardo Darín). Knocking around Buenos
Aires--from gritty downtown to cozy neighborhood side streets
to a swank hotel where wealth murmurs behind every door--these
damnably resourceful scoundrels try not to miss a bet, including
an epic swindle involving the titular "Nine
Queens," a set of ultrarare stamps. Writer-director
Fabián Bielinsky keeps a taut rein on everything, including
his own cleverness. The end result is an entertainment as bracingly
disciplined as it is ingenious.
Review by Richard T. Jameson
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Without a Trace / Sin dejar huella
|
|
Drama (2000)
Spain / Mexico
Director: María Novaro
Starring: Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Tiaré Scanda,
Jesús Ochoa |
Review: It's easy to use the
shorthand "a Mexican Thelma and Louise" to describe
Without
a Trace, since it's a humorous and dramatic women's road
movie, but there is more to Novaro's film than breezy comparisons.
Outwitting their laughable, villainous spurned lovers/nemeses,
two unlikely traveling companions -- an art smuggler and a new
mother/accidental drug dealer -- bond over their mutual desire
to hit the road. Though neither one can actually be trusted, a
friendship develops between the pair, yet it isn't exactly built
on honesty (each has her own self-interested, wily plans). Set
to a tragic norteño music soundtrack, the women's nonstop
and surprising run-ins with their pursuers are told in the melodramatic
tradition of Mexican songs. Hightailing it across their country's
backroads, from the northern border to the breathtaking Yucatan,
are the film's beautiful stars Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
and Tiaré Scanda.
Review by Denise Sullivan, All Movie Guide
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