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Posts: 907
Joined: Mar. 13 2006
From: Vancouver, Canada
Spanish (Language) Film
I don't have many Spanish speaking friends locally, so I like to watch movies to keep my ear fresh, especially for Spanish and less frequently heard accents.
Unfortunately, I'm not as easily amused as I used to be. I recently revisited movies that I used to think were brilliant e.g. Jamón, jamón made me howl in the theatre, but years later, even Penelope doesn't charm me so much. Even Almodovar makes me wince.
I haven't been to an art house theatre since I came out West, so maybe I miss being part of an audience too. I remember the extra special bit of enjoyment when the minority part of the audience who didn't need the subtitles would laugh at something that didn't translate, or was too culturally specific to cross the divide. It's been 12 years since I came out West and I feel that my language skills are finally beginning to languish (at first, they got better as I stopped using the palabritas of calo I was accustomed to using with friends back home).
One movie that does stand up, IMO, is from Argentina, called El Lado Oscuro del Corazón. It doesn't make me laugh as much any more, but it has an interesting depth to it that still appeals. And I gots to get me one of those buttons... and a girl who knows how to fly, and maybe a girl with bigotes.
So, please share with me your favourite Spanish language movie(s), so I can add to my film collection...
Maybe, I'll be reminded of some other flicks and post them here too.
This is a new film coming out, and it looks really good. Actually, most films from IFC tend to be pretty good. Has absolutely nothing to do with flamenco though, sorry.
I really enjoyed 'Matando cabos' (Mexico), good fast moving story, quite dark/violent humour. You've got to love a retired Mexican wrestler trying to drive while having drug-fuelled flashbacks to his wrestling B-movies heyday. And the phrase 'pinche vizco' has haunted me since One of my favourite movies of all time is 'Amores Perros' and I liked 'Y tu mama tambien' but the main characters' vocabularies revolve around a lot of Mexican cussing And of course there's the lighthearted look at impoverished Colombians smuggling drugs inside their bodies in 'Maria llena de gracia'
ORIGINAL: Exitao Y tu mama tambien is the one where Paz Vega has a menage a trois with two teenage buys during a road trip to a beach that doesn't exist, right? I can't recall anything about Amores perros.
That's the plot in a nutshell, unfortunately it's not the lovely Paz in Y Tu Mama Tambien, but it is ex-lingerie model Maribel Verdu.
Amores Perros - "Three lives become inextricably linked in the wake of a terrible car crash: a young punk stumbles into the sinister underground world of dog fighting; an injured supermodel's pooch disappears into the apartment's floorboards; and an ex-radical turned hit man rescues a gun-shot Rotweiler."
I liked Almodovar's version of Ruth Rendell's 'Live Flesh'. More recently, 'Pan's Labyrinth' (del Toro) was wonderful (though disturbing) and 'Il Orfanato' was very creepy and very moving. I presume The Motorcycle Diaries (another poetic and political fil about Vhe Guevara's early adulthood) was also in Spanish...
That's interesting about watching Jamon jamon again. I'll have to do that. I saw it before I moved to Spain and found it hilarious.
My favourite Alodovar is still " Women on the Edge of Nervous Breakdown" but also enjoyed 'Volver' and 'Todo sobre mi Madre".
Recent Mexican Films such Amores Perras and Babel, Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu Madre También are also among my favourites.
Some old Spanish films I should rewatch are 'Belle Epoque', and "AY Carmela' both set in Civil War. Both brilliant. Another classic is ' Spirit of the Beehive'.
I studied Spanish and Latin American film at University and saw so many films but one that I have always remembered is 'Mary Mary', with Julie Christie playing an English nanny in Argentina.
A few films on my wish list I've not seen yet are Carmen Maura in ' How to be a woman and not die in the attempt" and "Secrets of the Heart".
I can also highly recommend the only two Argentine films that Fabian Bielinsky directed before his untimely passing - "Nueve reinas"/"Nine Queens" (remade in the US in 2004 as "Criminal" with Diego Luna and John C Reilly) and, even better - El Aura. Both are absolutely awesome.
but also enjoyed 'Volver' and 'Todo sobre mi Madre".
volver was a nice movie. penelope cruz is in that one too. AND there's a song by estrella morente in there. penelope cruz lip syncs it. not really flamenco though. or maybe it is. i don't knlow what palo it'd be.
what about biographies? there's the camaron movie, paco docus, etc...
just watched "vengo" last night. tomatito and paquera de jerez were in it along with others but they were the most notable for me. lots of flamenco music but most of it was rumbas and such. i wont say anymore so that i dont spoil anything.
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