Bigas Luna

Synopsis:
This Spanish/French film presents a loving ode to a woman’s breasts and the three men who love them. The fairy tale is told from the viewpoint of 9-year old Tete, who jealous of his new brother’s access to his mother’s breasts, implores the moon to give him a nurturing breast of his own. French cabaret performers Estrellita, the Queen of Stuttgart, and her jealous husband Maurice, come to town with their surprisingly vulgar act. When Tete sees Estrellita, he knows his wish has been granted. Trailer-park electrician Miquel is also very attracted to Estrellita’s charming chest and begins serenade her. Tete gets to sample her charms after he brings her a frog.Read More »

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Directed by acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Jose Juan Bigas Luna, HUEVOS DE ORO (GOLDEN BALLS) stars Javier Bardem in his breakthrough role (for which he also received a Goya Award nomination). In this satire of Latin machismo and the excesses of the 1980s, Bardem plays Benito Gonzalez, who dreams of building a mighty skyscraper and thereby securing fame and wealth for himself. His main advantages are his uncontrollable self-assurance and skills as a lothario. He marries the daughter of a rich banker while keeping a mistress on the side, but his betrayal of both women begin to destroy his plans for the building as well as his chauvinist self-confidence. Bigas Luna brings his trademarks–an honest exploration of sexuality and surrealistic imagery–to this tale of male egotism and its undoing.Read More »

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Never one to shy away from touchy subject matter, Bigas Luna seems determined to become to Spain what Russ Meyer is to America and Tinto Brass is to Italy. One of his most explicit works to date, The Ages of Lulu (Les edades de Lulú) begins like a fairly standard knockoff of 9 1/2 Weeks but swerves into far more dangerous waters that could only be explored in Europe. Sweet little Lulu (Live Flesh’s Francesca Neri) discovers her sexual awakening at the hands of older, self-absorbed Pablo (Óscar Ladoire), who makes her acquaintance by shaving her nether regions (“…so you’ll look prettier”). Read More »

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Dreams of fame take Diana from Madrid to Hollywood. She seems to be on the right path when a powerful agent notices her, but he only wants someone for a sham marriage with a secretly gay star.Read More »

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A brother and sister live together in a relationship which is unhealthily close, and has overtones of incest. The unpleasant couple are involved in other deranged and disgusting activities as well, including feeding raw meat (possibly from live puppies) to their pet poodle.Read More »

Summary from filmaffinity:
On a beach in Barcelona, the body of a young man is discovered. His face eaten by fish, tattooed on his arm is the phrase: “I was born to revolutionize hell”. So begins a strange enigma. To start with, a name, an identity for this dead man must be found. This is the task facing Pepe Carvalho, Galician detective, former CIA agent and professional skeptic, none of which prevents him from enjoying and savoring the pleasures of good food and good sex. In the underworld of Barcelona and in the streets and canals of Amsterdam. Carvalho is soon coming up with some answers.Read More »

Plot summary:
Leo (Angel Jové), a psycopath and a silent, obsessed and deeply disturbed man, concieves a progressive fascination for Bilbao
(Isabel Pisano), a striptease ballerina, who to reach the end of the month, she has to be a prostitute. Leo studies her movements and ends up kidnapping her, as if she was his object to add to his erotic collection.Read More »

Based on a historical novel by Antonio Larreta, Volaverunt imagines a number of romantic misadventures that enlivened the court of King Carlos IV, a Spanish ruler of the early 19th century. As the story opens, the beautiful Duchess of Alba (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) is sharing a coach passing through Andalusia with artist Francisco de Goya (Jorge Perugorria), Prime Minister Manuel de Godey (Jordi Molla), and Pepita Tudo (Penelope Cruz), a peasant girl. Goya and de Godey are obviously charmed by the Duchess’s exotic beauty and free-spirited attitude, but the Prime Minister is equally smitten with Pepita. The Prime Minister invites her to the royal court in Madrid, where she becomes his mistress and the subject of several of Goya’s paintings. However, Queen Maria Luisa (Stefania Sandrelli) disapproves of de Godey’s new love, and instead arranges for him to marry the Countess de Chinchon (Maria Alonso), a plain-Jane member of low-level royalty. The Duchess is upset with de Godey’s marriage, as it keeps her away from a collection of royal jewelry she covets. When the Duchess suddenly and mysteriously dies, Goya, de Godey, and Pepita are all murder suspects and must confess where they were and what they were doing at the moments leading up to her death. While the film itself received mixed notices, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon received the Silver Shell as Best Actress at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. The version screened at San Sebastian and several other festivals in the fall of 1999 was director Bigas Luna’s original cut; the film’s producers announced that the film would be re-edited for international release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideRead More »

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This suspense thriller about a bad relationship concerns Lola (Angela Molina), who is working hard for a living but becomes caught up in a sado-masochistic affair with the vicious Mario (Feodor Atkine). Finally breaking away from her own neurosis and a punishing lifestyle, Lola meets and marries Robert (Patrick Bauchau) and starts a new life with him in Barcelona. They have a young daughter but after a few years, Mario suddenly bursts into their lives claiming that the daughter is really his. Nothing but trouble lies ahead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, RoviRead More »