Seis puntos sobre Emma tells the story of Emma, a blind woman of around 30 who is attempting to get pregnant, with Machiavellian calculation. Interviews with director Roberto Pérez Toledo (himself a wheelchair-user) reveal that one of the main aims behind his film was to offer a portrait of a blind person as a flawed human being rather than a victim. Perhaps it is because I have grown up with visually impaired people, but whenever I see a film purporting to offer this kind of insight into the life of someone with a disability my first reaction is: tell me something new. After all, films featuring portrayals of disabled characters as strong and capable individuals already exist, albeit … [Read more...] about ‘Seis puntos sobre Emma’: Blind motivation?
Spanish cinema
‘Extraterrestre’: entertaining alien farce just misses the mark
Those who have seen Nacho Vigalondo's debut feature Los Cronocrímenes will be familiar with the director's style. In terms of uniqueness, he is more on a par with the likes of Wes Anderson than Clint Eastwood. And much like Anderson, you either dig his particular vision of the world or you don't. Humour, mixed with a healthy dose of darkness, is an essential ingredient of Vigalondo's work and Extraterrestre (or Extraterrestrial) is no different. The laughs and lighter moments are frequent but they are accompanied by an underlying sensation of subtle menace (one of the most classic examples of this is his 2003 Oscar-nominated short movie 7.35 de la mañana. As in Los Cronocrímenes, in … [Read more...] about ‘Extraterrestre’: entertaining alien farce just misses the mark
Goya 2012: no joy for Almodóvar
I can’t say I was unhappy to be proved wrong in predicting the winners at Sunday’s Goya Awards. Never believe the media. Given the hype, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In looked set to sweep the board, with 16 nominations. But instead the Spanish Film Academy gave the best prizes to Enrique Urbizu’s No Rest for the Wicked, which carried off Best Picture and Best Director, while veteran José Coronado took Best Actor for his portrayal of a maverick cop in the gritty police thriller — the fabulous curly perm he sports in the role was worth an award in itself. Interviewed as he entered the gala event at Madrid’s Opera House, Almodóvar gave the impression he had been tipped off that he … [Read more...] about Goya 2012: no joy for Almodóvar
Spain’s film dubbing: ghost of a fascist past must be laid to rest
Most ex-patriots living and working in Spain will be all too aware of the Spanish penchant for dubbing foreign-language films. Whether Spanish-speaking or not, this is enormously irritating, particularly for those of us not living in more cosmopolitan cities like Madrid or Barcelona, with more cinemas showing films in original version. The nearest big city to me is San Sebastián, which hosts an annual international film festival famed for its predilection for the avant-garde. Throughout the festival, all showings are in original version and San Sebastián is extremely proud of its cinematic culture. Yet after almost 60 years of hosting the event, there is still only one small, two-screen … [Read more...] about Spain’s film dubbing: ghost of a fascist past must be laid to rest
Balagueró hits top horror form with ‘Mientras duermes’
Fear, panic and sympathy are emotions that Rec director Jaume Balagueró puts the spectator through in his new film Mientras duermes (Sleep Tight). We follow the twists and turns of the plot through the eyes of César, a disturbed doorman whose only pleasure in life comes from making others suffer. César knows everyone in the building and controls their every move. He isn’t your run-of-the-mill psycho-killer though; he’s more like a blue-collar villain who happens to vent his frustration on his unsuspecting neighbours. Luis Tosar, Marta Etura and Alberto San Juan breathe life into the characters that Alberto Marini has developed for this story, based on the book of the same name. Luis Tosar … [Read more...] about Balagueró hits top horror form with ‘Mientras duermes’
‘The Skin I Live In’: another Almodóvar masterpiece?
The international press has been fulsome in its praise of Pedro Almodóvar’s latest movie, The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito), with some reviewers hailing it as a masterpiece, the work of a maestro confidently taking risks, pushing the boundaries of cinema while at the same time entertaining us. With the exception of El País’s Carlos Boyero — whose loathing for Almodóvar is long-standing — the Spanish press has been equally gushing, using that peculiarly empty and baroque language employed when the writer can’t think of anything genuinely meaningful to say, but has to fill the columns: or perhaps in this case it’s simply a way to avoid spoiling the plot. Because that is where the … [Read more...] about ‘The Skin I Live In’: another Almodóvar masterpiece?
Torrente, saviour of the Spanish film industry
Lethal Crisis (Crisis letal) is Santiago Segura’s fourth Torrente movie; the actor-director says it will be his last: the character is “killing” him, although it’s not clear whether the Spanish comic is referring to the 40 kilos he puts on for the role, or his chances of ever winning an Oscar. Torrente 4 trots out the same smutty jokes and seul entendres as its successors, but is made all the more, well, smutty, for being in 3D (That said, this reviewer was surprised, not to say disappointed, that Segura didn’t use the costly Avatar technology at his disposal to shove the abundant breasts and genitalia liberally on display throughout in the audience’s face). It’s hardly worth … [Read more...] about Torrente, saviour of the Spanish film industry
Goya Awards: and the winner is… González-Sinde
The 25th Goya Awards ceremony was somewhat overshadowed by the continuing fallout from the very public spat between Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde and Alex de la Iglesia, the president of the Spanish film academy, over the government’s recently approved and controversial anti-piracy law. Academy president Alex de la Iglesia at the Goya ceremony. Protesters wearing V for Vendetta masks booed and threw eggs at government ministers and movie-world bigwigs as they arrived at the February 13 ceremony, reserving their cheers exclusively for De la Iglesia. De la Iglesia, a filmmaker himself who has resigned from his post as president of the film academy in protest at what has become … [Read more...] about Goya Awards: and the winner is… González-Sinde
Industry infighting spices up Spanish cinema awards
Sunday Bloody Sunday, Star Wars, and perhaps Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: this year’s Goya cinema awards ceremony on February 13 looks like producing more off-stage drama than the content of all those movies put together. Topping the bill in this very public spat is Ángeles González-Sinde, a scriptwriter and director herself and former president of the Spanish Cinema Academy, who in her current role as culture minister is trying to push through legislation against P2P downloading sites along the lines of that in place in France, the UK, and the United States. The new legislation has been dubbed the “Sinde Law” in her honour. In her quest to protect what she calls “Spain’s … [Read more...] about Industry infighting spices up Spanish cinema awards
Quality TV is the big casualty of Spain’s dubbing
That Fox Television’s recent announcement it would be screening medic drama series House in the original English —with subtitles— was considered a news story by the Spanish media might go some way towards explaining this country’s poor ranking in EU tables of member populations’ knowledge of languages other than their own. More saliently, it highlights this country’s dismal record when it comes to producing quality television programming. Spain ranks as the fourth-worst country in the EU when it comes to mastering foreign languages, according to a recent report by Eurostat. Those figures coincide with a report by the EU’s Dubbing and Subtitling Needs and Practices in the European … [Read more...] about Quality TV is the big casualty of Spain’s dubbing