Antonio de la Torre

“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 »

Synopsis
In the sleepy Spanish town of Granada, a mild-mannered tailor and secret cannibal unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with his latest prospective victim, in director Manuel Martín Cuenca’s disturbing yet intoxicating tale of bizarre romance. Carlos (Antonio de la Torre) works as a tailor in Granada, one of Spain’s sleepy southern cities where time seems to have stopped — and where things that lurk in the shadows can remain unnoticed. Carlos lives alone and rarely interacts with anyone beyond his clients. No one would imagine that this shy and respectable tradesman is actually a murderer and a cannibal, remorselessly targeting Eastern European women who have no papers and filling his freezer with their flesh. Then the truly unexpected occurs: Nina (Olimpia Melinte), the Romanian twin sister of one of his victims, appears at his front door, and love slowly creeps in.Read More »