Vente a Alemania, Pepe (Come to Germany, Pepe – 1971)
Directed by Pedro Lazaga
Written by Vicente Coello and Vicente Escrivá
Starring: Alfredo Landa, Tina Sáinz, José Sacristán
BY RAQUEL MARTÍNEZ
Economic crises and unemployment have caused Spanish natives to find work abroad in different periods of recent history. For Spaniards, top European economies (specially Germany) are often regarded as promised lands ̶ places where virtually anyone can get a fairly paid job. Recent films such as Perdiendo el norte (Off-course – Nacho García Velilla, 2014) and Un franco, 14 pesetas (Crossing Borders – Carlos Iglesias, 2006) have provided diverse perspectives on Spanish emigration to Europe. Within this context, the 1970s comedy Vente a Alemania, Pepe (Come to Germany, Pepe – Pedro Lazaga, 1971) is considered the ‘protofilm’ in the popular Spanish imagery. Read More…
Hable con ella (Talk to Her, 2002)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Written by Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti
BY BEATRIZ CABALLERO RODRÍGUEZ
Gender shifts in Almodóvar’s Hable con ella (Talk to her, 2002)
Winner of an Oscar to the best screenplay, Hable con ella (Talk to her, 2002) constitutes a significant shift in Pedro Almodóvar’s prolific cinematic career. In contrast with his previous films, where women always took centre stage, this time the protagonists are men. Read More…
Felices 140 (Happy 140, 2015)
Directed by Gracia Querejeta
Written by Antonio Mercero and Gracia Querejeta
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Antonio de la Torre, Eduard Fernández
BY PABLO DE CASTRO
Spain may not be the most popular country in Scotland these days – in fact it hasn’t been for quite some time now: threats back in 2014 to veto any attempt for an independent Scotland to join the EU resulted among other things in occasional calls against the rights of the Spanish fishing fleet to work in Scottish waters. The recent events in Catalonia haven’t been helpful either to improve this image of a government prone to bullying their way around. Read More…
Hermosa juventud (Beautiful Youth, 2014)
Directed by Jaime Rosales
Written by Jaime Rosales and Enric Rufas
Starring: Ingrid García Jonsson, Carlos Rodríguez, Inma Nieto
BY RAQUEL MARTÍNEZ
In December 2014, the Spanish Prime Minister ̶ Mariano Rajoy ̶ claimed that the economic crisis was ‘history’.[1] In the same year, Catalan director Jaime Rosales released Beautiful Youth, a bleak observation of the effects of such crisis on one of Spain’s most vulnerable sectors: young people. Read More…
El pastor (The Shepherd, 2016)
Written and directed by Jonathan Cenzual Burley
Starring: Maribel Iglesias, Miguel Martín, Alfonso Mendiguchía
BY PABLO DE CASTRO
The 23rd edition of the extraordinary Spanish-speaking VIVA Festival Manchester took place just a couple of months ago. The film section is just one area of a much wider festival which addresses all means of artistic and cultural expression, including theatre, dance and visual arts. Once the festival was over, a few selected jewels started touring the country (same as the ‘Best of the IDFA’ tours The Netherlands: this will typically happen when cinema is seen as a cultural activity beyond business). These hidden gems have recently arrived to our own very Glasgow, and oh dear, the three selected pieces happen to arrive from Latin America. Read More…
Un perro andaluz (Un Chien Andalou, 1929)
Directed by Luis Buñuel
Written by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
Starring: Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí
Making sense of Buñuel’s Un chien andalou
BY BEATRIZ CABALLERO RODRIGUEZ
Daring and irreverent, Un chien andalou sets out to break expectations and to shock viewers out of their bourgeois numbed comfort. Although a black and white, silent film only seventeen minutes long, it remains one of the most influential and celebrated short-films in the history of cinema. Read More…
Volver (2006)
Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave
BY BEATRIZ CABALLERO RODRIGUEZ
From the outset, Pedro Almodóvar’s film Volver (2006) tackles the topics of memory and trauma across three generations of women. As the title Volver (meaning to return, to come back) indicates, this film is marked by a strong sense of disjointed time where the past refuses to stay in the past, ghosts refuse to stay buried, traumatic events refuse to be forgotten. Read More…
LOREAK (Flowers, 2014)
Directed by José Mari Goenaga and Jon Garaño
Written by José Mari Goenaga, Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregui
Starring: Nagore Aranburu, Itziar Aizpuru, Itziar Ituño
BY R. MARTÍNEZ
Why do we give flowers to people? Are they a colourful allegory of youth and beauty? Or are they a tangible proof of feelings such as love or perhaps regret? Flowers are the main theme that binds the film Loreak’s female protagonists together. Loreak was filmed in the Basque language and is one of the strongest examples of 2015’s Basque cinema together with Asier Altuna’s enigmatic Amama. Read More…
Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens, 2000)
Written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky
Starring: Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Leticia Brédice.
BY PAMELA McLEAN
Sometimes old stories are the best, and Nine Queens has one of the oldest there is: the con is on, and experienced professional Marco teams up with young gun Sebastian to pull off the biggest con of either of their careers. Read More…
La isla mínima (Marshland, 2014).
Directed by Alberto Rodríguez
Written by Rafael Cobos and Alberto Rodríguez
Starring: Javier Gutiérrez, Raúl Arévalo, Antonio de la Torre.
BY R. MARTÍNEZ
2014 was an incomparable year for Spanish cinema. The Spanish film industry started to show signs of recovery from the harsh blow suffered as a result of the economic crisis and the VAT tax rise (from 8% to 21%) imposed by the Conservative Government. This rehabilitation was visible at this year’s Goya Awards where, for the first time in several years, there wasn’t just one clear favourite but a few strong contenders. Andalusian director Alberto Rodriguez achieved a considerable victory over the other nominees by taking home a total of 10 Goya awards for his film La isla mínima, including Best Film and Best Director. Read More…
