Spain

  • Carlos Saura – El 7º día AKA The 7th Day (2004)

    2001-2010Carlos SauraCrimeDramaSpain

    In an isolated village in Extremadura (Spain), the Jiménez and Fuentes families have a violent history of land disputes, jealousy, envy, and violence.Read More »

  • Juan Carlos Olaria – El diario rojo AKA The Red Diary (1982)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaJuan Carlos OlariaSpain

    Summary on IMDb:
    Juan (Joan Estrada) and Ana (Anna Sales) suffer a marriage crisis. Ana’s pregnancy should harmonize her future, but John’s sterility will cause a whirlwind of unexpected emotions.Read More »

  • Pau Teixidor – Purgatorio (2014)

    2011-2020HorrorPau TeixidorSpain

    Quote:
    Marta (Oona Chaplin) is a young woman who just lost her son and can not overcome the feeling of guilt for his death. After moving with her husband (Andrew Gertrúdix) to an apartment in a nearly empty building, her trauma takes hold of her during one night. Her flamboyant neighbor (Ana Fernández) knocks on their door to ask Marta to take care of her young son, a kid who seems to speak with the dead. As the hours pass, Daniel is adopting an increasingly nervous and violent behavior, and even claims to be accompanied by another child that no one can see. For Marta, a nightmare begins, during which her trauma gains an increasingly tight grip on her. Is it possible that the spirit of her son has followed her to her new home?Read More »

  • Carlos Iglesias – Un Franco, 14 pesetas AKA Crossing Borders (2006)

    2001-2010Carlos IglesiasComedyDramaSpain

    Spain 1960, the dawn of the country’s economic development. Industrial “reorganization” means that many workers have lost their jobs and are forced to emigrate. Martin is one of them. Martin, his wife Pilar and their son Pablito live with Mart’n’s parents in a basement apartment that comes with their job as superintendents of the building. Encouraged by Marcos, his friend and co-worker, Martin decides to emigrate to Switzerland. The whole family has to admit that for the time being this is the most promising plan. Unable to obtain a work contract from the Swiss Consulate, Martin and Marcos decide to go anyway, pretending they are tourists to get past the border police. Pablito will experience drastic changes in a short period of time: his father’s departure, a new way of life in a different country with a different environment and learning another language. But afterwards, in Switzerland, they will face new experiences which will allow them to live with renewed happiness.Read More »

  • Álex de la Iglesia – Balada triste de trompeta AKA The Last Circus (2010)

    2001-2010Álex de la IglesiaComedyDramaSpain

    “Psycho Clowns in Franco Spain”: A twisted love triangle develops among a Spanish clown (Carlos Areces), his cruel rival (Antonio de la Torre) and the rival’s abused — but lustful — wife (Carolina Bang).

    Jay Weissberg in Variety on the film for which Álex de la Iglesia has won the Silver Lion and an Osella for Best Screenplay in Venice, Balada triste de trompeta, known among English-speakers as either as A Sad Trumpet Ballad or The Last Circus: “Loud, tedious and unattractive in every sense, this barrage of blood set during the Franco regime combines the helmer’s customary cartoonishness with horror and ups it a thousand notches. Presumably his two vengeful clowns are meant to be an in-your-face comment on Spain’s fascist past, but the nonstop splatter has all the insight of an ultraviolent videogame.”Read More »

  • Narciso Ibáñez Serrador – El televisor AKA The Television (1974)

    1971-1980DramaHorrorNarciso Ibáñez SerradorSpainSpanish cinema under Franco

    Enrique is an ordinary man, a gray man, a man who follows his routine day by day, working twelve hours a day with the sole purpose of providing the best for his family, a wife and two children. Enrique’s life changes the day he manages to fulfill his greatest ambition, that is, the purchase of a color television. From that moment the protagonist discovers a new world, a universe whose wonders Enrique had lived ignorant of throughout his life. He becomes obsessed with it in such way that eventually he is incapable to differenciate reality from fiction.Read More »

  • Pedro Almodóvar – La flor de mi secreto AKA The Flower of My Secret (1995)

    1991-2000ComedyDramaPedro AlmodóvarSpain

    Quote:
    Marisa Paredes is Leocadia (“Leo”) Macias, a woman writing “pink” romance novels under the alias of Amanda Gris that are very popular all across Spain. Unlike her romantic novels, her own love life is troubled. Leo has a less than happy relationship with her husband Paco, a military officer stationed in Brussels then later in Bosnia, who is distant both physically and emotionally.Read More »

  • Pedro Almodóvar – Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón AKA Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom (1980)

    1971-1980ComedyPedro AlmodóvarQueer Cinema(s)Spain

    Quote:
    The first feature film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is controversial and shocking, especially the time it was made (although not that shocking in Spain), but also very funny. Basically it is a movie about nothing, although it shows a pop-culture that Almodóvar inhabited.

    We see how Pepi (Carmen Maura) is raped by a policeman (Félix Rotaeta) after she offers sex, although tries to back out, so he would not report her illegal cannabis plants. Pepi seeks revenge and she lets her friends beat the guy up. It seems they have beaten his twin brother so Pepi must come up with another plan. She tries this through the policeman’s wife named Luci (Eva Siva) who turns out to be a masochist, perfect for Pepi’s friend Bom (Olvido Gara) who likes to disparage her.Read More »

  • León Klimovsky – La noche de Walpurgis AKA The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Women [International cut] (1971)

    León Klimovsky1971-1980HorrorSpainSpanish cinema under Franco

    Elvira is travelling through the French countryside with her friend Genevieve, searching for the lost tomb of a medieval murderess and possible vampire, Countess Wandessa. They find a likely site in the castle of Waldemar Daninsky, who invites the women to stay as long as they like. As Waldemar shows Elvira the tomb that supposedly houses the countess, she accidentally causes the vampire to come back to life, hungrier than ever. Daninsky has a hidden secret of his own, but will it be enough to save the two girls from becoming Wandessa’s next victims?Read More »

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