Gladdened by the recent news that Santiago Segura is making his fourth Torrente film, and in 3D, I was prompted to illegally download and re-watch the three previous movies in the series. Like his hero Peter Sellers, who for most movie fans will forever be Inspector Clouseau, Spanish comic Santiago Segura seems unable, or unwilling, to shake off his alter ego, Inspector José Luis Torrente. Little wonder: the racist, sexist, homophobic Madrid cop is one of the biggest pulls in Spanish cinema. Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella, made in 2001, remains the most profitable Spanish film of all time. The Torrente formula is simple: lots of smutty jokes at our hero’s expense; plenty of gratuitous … [Read more...] about Santiago Segura is Torrente… and an incurable romantic
Films
Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz: compare and contrast
Having appeared in several films together dating back to the beginnings of their careers in the early 1990s, and being the first Spanish actors to be nominated for Oscars, then the first to win the coveted statuette, there seemed a certain inevitability about Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz’s announcement in July that they had finally got married. Needless to say, the media made great play of two Academy Award winners tying the knot: as more than one story trumpeted, it’s a “marriage made in Oscar heaven.” For the domestic press this was yet another example of Spain’s international success, —somewhat overshadowed by the World Cup, it has to be said— while for the rest of the world there … [Read more...] about Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz: compare and contrast
A cinema industry locked in confusion
Two new films have just won the top prizes in their respective countries: Celda 211 (or Cell 211), by Spanish director Daniel Monzón; and A Prophet, directed by France’s Jacques Audiard. Both are prison dramas. Both are currently on release in Spain. Both are box office smashes. And that’s pretty much where the similarities end. A Prophet is a confidently directed, superbly acted, universal story of a young man’s rite of passage into hell; at the same time it’s an indictment of France’s brutal prison system, where a disproportionate number of Arabs are locked away, often for relatively minor crimes. Celda 211, on the other hand, is a lacklustre yarn based on a formulaic script, … [Read more...] about A cinema industry locked in confusion
Never a prophet in his own land?
First, the Goyas. He was in the running for best original screenplay, but didn’t make it. More importantly for many, Pedro Almodóvar returned on February 14 to Spain’s top movie awards ceremony after a five-year absence to hand Daniel Monzón the best film prize for Celda 211. His presence was highly symbolic, given that Broken Embraces had been overlooked for Spain’s top film prize, as had he for best director. The film was nominated in five categories, among them best screenplay; in the end it won best soundtrack. This year, the story is that the director and the Academy have made their peace, even if Almodóvar rejected a very public plea from the organization’s president, Alex de la … [Read more...] about Never a prophet in his own land?