SPANISH FILM Cont...
Flamenco (Flamenco) As a hall fills with performers, a narrator says that flamenco came from Andalucia, a mix of Greek psalms, Mozarabic dirges, Castillian ballads, Jewish laments, Gregorian chants, African rhythms, and Iranian and Romany melodies. The film presents thirteen rhythms of flamenco, each with song, guitar, and dance: the up-tempo bularías, a brooding farruca, an anguished martinete, and a satiric fandango de huelva. There are tangos, a taranta, alegrías, siguiriyas, soleás, a guajira of patrician women, a petenera about a sentence to death, villancicos, and a final rumba.
Flores de Otro Mundo (Flowers from Another World) A group of women travels by bus to a remote Spanish village overwhelmingly populated by men. The women dream of better lives while the men ache with more romantic yearnings. The film looks at three different relationships that develop as the couples struggle to find ways to share their lives together. Winner of the Mercedes-Benz Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 100 minutes; Not Rated.)
Frida Julie Taymor's triumphant motion picture about Frida Kahlo, an exceptional woman who lived an unforgettable life. From her humble beginnings, to her enduring relationship with her mentor and husband, Diego Rivera, to her scandalous affairs, Frida's uncompromising personality inspired her greatest creations. Nominated for six 2002 Academy Awards. (DVD, English or French language track with Spanish subtitles, 123 minutes, Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language)
Goya en Bordeaux is a visually sumptuous, emotionally powerful film about the turbulent life of brilliant painter Francisco de Goya. In Bordeaux, France, in the early 1800s, Goya suffers from strange visions and nightmares. While his young daughter cares for him, Goya reflects on his tumultuous career: a time when a passionate love affair with the beautiful Duchess of Alba and the evil crusade of Napoleon's French army inspire Goya's most shocking, brilliant paintings -- works that change the art world forever. (DVD, In Spanish with English or Spanish subtitles; 105 minutes, Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity)
The Grandfather (El Abuelo) When news of his son's death returns proud Count Albrit home to Spain after years abroad, he's pleased to meet his two charming young granddaughters. But he also carries the burden of a newly discovered family secret: one of the girls is not his son's daughter ... and therefore not his true heir. The determined Count sets out to discover which granddaughter is worthy of his love and his name. (DVD In Spanish with English subtitles, 146 minutes, Rated PG)
Gringuito is the story of a young cchild who is uprooted from his New York home and forced to move back to Chile with his parents. He has always lived in New York and feels totally out of place the day his parents settle in to their new apartment in Santiago. Ivan, the gringuito, considers his parents' return to Chile very disappointing and feels that his mother's pregnancy will also take attention away from him. Shortly after moving in, he runs away and gets involved with El Flaco who looks after Ivan and for whom he develops a true friendship. Ivan's experiences develop into a young boy's rite of passage and lead him to a poignant encounter with Chile. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 97 minutes)
Guantanamera Yoyita, a world famous diva, returns to her home town of Guantánamo, Cuba, for an elegant reception in her honor and a surprising reunion with her once-beloved, Candido. Overjoyed with the rekindled memories of her first love, Yoyita's elated heart fizzles while in Candido's doting embrace. Joining Yoyita's funeral procession back to Havana are several diverse characters whose interaction provides an interesting plot. The film is a bold overview of contemporary Cuba. (DVD in Spanish, with English subtitles, 104 minutes, Not Rated.)
Herod's law (La Ley de Herodes) is a hilarious, outrageous satire set in a tiny Mexico town in 1949. Juan Vargas is a junkyard operator who is recruited as a temporary mayor following the demise of the latest corrupt town leader. At first, Vargas is the ideal politician: he's honest, desperate and not overly ambitious -- or so it seems. But eventually Vargas gives in to overwhelming temptation, bribery, and even violence in this brilliant, tongue-in-cheek story about government treachery. (DVD in Spanish, with English subtitles, 122 minutes, Rated R.)
I, Worst of All is the story of the brilliant and beautiful poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in this magnificent portrayal of 17th-century Mexico. In order to pursue her love of writing, Juana enters the convent and gains international renown. When the Inquisition comes, the local Vice-reine becomes Juana's protectress and erotic muse. Based on the novel The Traps of Faith by Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz, I, Worst of All is a thrilling romance of startling passion and intensity. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 107 minutes; Not Rated
Intacto (Intact) An enigmatic tale of four people whose lives are intertwined by destiny are subject to the laws of fate. They discover that luck is something they cannot afford to be without as they gamble with the highest stakes possible in a deadly game from which only one of them will emerge intact. There is Tomas, a young thief and the sole survivor of a horrific plane crash; Federico, who survived a massive earthquake and discovered he has the power to rob those around him of their good fortune with a touch; Sam, a casino owner who is the ultimate survivor after losing everything but his own life in the terrible conflagration that enveloped Europe during the Second World War; and Sara, a policewoman who walked away from a car crash that killed her family and becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a clandestine gambling ring where death and luck intermingle.
In the Time of the Butterflies (En el Tiempo de Las mariposas) On November 25, 1960, the bodies of three sisters were found near the bottom of a cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official daily 'El Caribe' reports that it had been an accident, but it does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it mention the sisters' fierce opposition to the General Trujillo's dictatorship. This is their story: how Minerva started the tragedy by refusing Trujillo; how Patria became an opponent from the church itself; how Maria Teresa joined the revolution through the love. And how they lost their wings, but not their courage. They were Las Mariposas - "The Butterflies".
Jamon Jamon Jose Luis is an executive at his parents underwear factory where his girlfriend Sylvia works on the shop floor. When Sylvia falls pregnant, Jose Luis promises her that he will marry her, most likely against the wishes of his parents. Jose Luis' mother is determined to break her son's engagement to a girl from a lower-class family, and hires Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter to seduce Sylvia.
Like Water for Chocolate is an erotic tale of forbidden love. Tita and Pedro are passionately in love, but their love is forbidden by an ancient family tradition. To be near Tita, Pedro marries her sister. Tita, as the family cook, expresses her passion for Pedro through preparing delectable dishes in which ordinary spices become a recipe for passion. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles, 105 minutes, Rated R)
Living It Up: La Gran Vida A romantic comedy about a down-on-her-luck waitress and a charming big-spender who indulge in a whirlwind extravagant romance -- but is he really a millionaire? (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 114 minutes; Rated R)
Lovers of the Arctic Circle charts the remarkable destinies of Ana and Otto, childhood friends whose fates intersect over the years, leading to a stunning conclusion in which destiny and romance collide. A beautiful and haunting love story in the tradition of Amélie. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 109 minutes; Rated R)
Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces) A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his life. This man uses two names: Harry Caine, a playful pseudonym with which he signs his literary works, stories and scripts, and Mateo Blanco, his real name, with which he lives and signs the film he directs. After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can’t direct films he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena.
La Otra Conquista (The Other Conquest) It is May 1520 in the vast Aztec Empire one year after the Spanish Conqueror Hernán Cortés' arrival in Mexico. "The Other Conquest" opens with the infamous massacre of the Aztecs at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan [what is now called Mexico City]. The sacred grounds are covered with the countless bodies of priests and nobility slaughtered by the Spanish Armies under Cortés' command. The lone Aztec survivor of the massacre is a young Indian scribe named Topiltzin [Damián Delgado]. Topiltzin, who is the illegitimate son of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma, survives the onslaught by burying himself under a stack of bodies. As if awakening from a dream, the young man rises from among the dead to find his mother murdered, the Spanish in power and the dawn of a new era in his native land. A New World with new leaders, language, customs... and God.
Machuca (Machuca) In 1973, in Santiago of Chile of the first socialist president democratically elected in a Latin-American country, President Salvador Allende, the principal of the Saint Patrick School, Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran) makes a trial of integration between students of the upper and lower classes. The bourgeois boy Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer) and the boy from the slum Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) become great friends, while the conflicts on the streets leads Chile to the bloody and repressive military coup of General Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973, changing definitely their lives, their relationship and their country.
Matador (Bullfighter) Ex-bullfighter who is getting turned on by killing, lady lawyer with same problem and young man driven insane by over-religious upbringing - these are the main characters in this stylish black comedy about dark sides of human nature.
Modern Marvels: Machu Picchu
It is perched on a mountain ridge in the Andes, 1,600 feet
above a river valley - and 8,000 feet above sea level. A
city of stone built without mortar, the wheel, or iron
tools, it is so perfectly constructed that the thinnest
knife blade cannot fit between the joints in the massive
granite blocks that make up most of the structures. But why
was it built? And why was it abandoned, apparently only a
couple hundred years after it was built?
MODERN MARVELS heads high into the Andes to explore the mysterious cloud city of the Inca, and meets the archeologists and scholars who are leading the efforts to reveal its many secrets. Well above the surrounding cloud forest, Machu Picchu likely had no commercial, military or administrative use, but many theorists now believe that it was a royal estate and religious retreat, and we'll examine the evidence that points to this conclusion.
María Full of Grace introduces us to a determined young woman whose desire for a brighter future leads her into a world of unimaginable danger. Desperate to leave her unbearable job and support three generations of her family, María accepts a lucrative offer to transport packets of heroin -- which she must swallow -- to the United States. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 101 minutes; Rated R for drug content and language)
El Mariachi All he wants is to be a mariachi, like his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather before him. But the town he thinks will bring him luck brings only a curse of deadly mistaken identity. Forced to trade his guitar for a gun, the mariachi is playing for his life in this critically-acclaimed film debut from director Robert Rodríguez. (DVD in Spanish, with English subtitles, 81 minutes, Rated R.)
The Motorcycle Diaries This is a portrait of the young Ché Guevara (later to become a Cuban revolutionary leader) who sets off from Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his friend Alberto Granado, hoping to circumnavigate the continent on a leaky motorcycle. They end up traveling more by foot, hitch-hiking, and raft, but their experience of the land and the people affects them profoundly. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 120 minutes; Rated R
Mouth to Mouth (Boca a Boca) To make ends meet, a struggling actor takes the only "acting" job he can find ... as a phone sex operator! But the real fun begins when he falls for a sultry, mysterious callers who wants to do more than just talk, setting in motion a hilariously madcap sexy adventure. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 97 minutes; Rated R)
Nada + (Nada más) Carla, a postal worker in Havana, Cuba, fulfills her romantic longings by opening letters and re-writing them into passionate prose before sending them out again to their intended recipients. After her co-worker Cesar catches her, Carla turns her amorous attentions on him. Beautifully filmed in black and white with accents of brilliant color, Cuba's 2003 Oscar entry combines visual humor, poetry, satire of Cuban bureaucracy, and a light-hearted love story. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 88 minutes, Not Rated.)
Nine Queens Welcome to a world of suspicion, betrayal and intrigue, where two small-time grifters team up to pull off a big-time score involving a set of valuable counterfeit stamps known as the Nine Queens. But when the rules of the con game unexpectedly change, the two crooks finds themselves pitted against each other in this taut psychological thriller in which neither the players, nor the audience, knows for sure who is playig whom. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 115 minutes, Rated R)
El Nominado (The Chosen One) In the brutal battle for ratings, how far will a reality show go? This thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat as contestants struggle to survive in the most extreme reality show ever. Dropped by helicopter into the snow-covered Andes Mountains, a dozen people live together in an underground bunker, every move of their lives captured on camera. Each week, one of the contestants is voted off the show but, when one man refuses to leave and starts shooting people, the ratings skyrocket from meager to incredible. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 99 minutes; Not Rated, but contains scenes of graphic violence.)
El Norte is a moving drama about two young Guatemalans (brother and sister) who leave their native land after the murder of their father and the disappearance of their mother. They decide to leave for a better life in California, but the trip north is not easy. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 139 minutes, Not Rated)
The Official Story details the collapse of an affluent Argentine family. Alicia, the wife of a successful businessman, faces the ultimate challenge when she begins to suspect that her adopted daughter may have been stolen from a family of los desaparecidos (the disappeared ones). Determined to find out the truth, Alicia risks everything -- even at the cost of her own family. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 110 minutes, Not Rated)
Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) is a steamy, complex psychological thriller in which the line between reality and fantasy is hopelessly blurred. César tries to make sense of his life after a car crash leaves his once-handsome face grotesquely disfigured. After he is placed into a psychotic penitentiary for a murder he doesn't remember committing, César's only hope is to delve into the depths of his subconscious mind where the answer to end his living nightmare lies in his dreams. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 117 minutes, Rated R)
El Padrecito In this film, a new priest has been sent to a small town to gain experience in ministry. When he arrives, he does not receive such a great welcome because the townspeople and the old priest's family think he was sent to take over the church. The new priest (played by Cantinflas) has to overcome the greedy villains and stubborn people. Although he is a priest, he has a mind of his own, and he tells people exactly what he is thinking. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 130 minutes, Rated PG)
Paloma de Papel (Paper Dove) In this grim realistic depiction of chaos set in the majestic Peruvian Andes during the 1980s, the characters must survive amidst a bloody civil war. This film recounts the story of young Juan as he struggles to survive poverty, corruption, and violence when Shining Path guerillas sweep through and force the helpless youngster into their ranks. Paloma de Papel explores the violence and political turmoil as seen through the eyes of a child and effectively shows an alternate side of the conflict. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 93 minutes, Not Rated)
Pan's Labyrinth Following a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer. Armed with only her imagination, Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, and before Ofelia can turn back, she finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 119 minutes; Rated R)
The Perfect Crime (El Crimen Perfecto). Rafael is at the top of the heap at the department store where the ladies department is his own small kingdom. A hit with customers and co-workers alike, the suave Rafael is able to sell anything to anyone and seems a shoe-in for store manager. But things don't go exactly as planned, and Rafael is beaten out by rival Don Antonio. When Don Antonio mysteriously disappears, Rafael is the most likely suspect, and one person knows the secret that could bring him down. Black comedy abounds in this tale of the perfect crime. (DVD in Spanish with English subtitles; 104 minutes; Not Rated)
Por la Libre (Dust to Dust) Rodrigo Carnicero would rather die than attend his son's latest wedding --- so that's exactly what he does, leaving the family to grapple with a will that's every bit as difficult as the man was in life! Bound by love for their grandfather, and despite the fact that they loathe each other, his grandsons Rocco and Rodrigo undertake a hilarious road trip to Acapulco in order to scatter the old man's ashes at sea. Along the way, though, the two young men learn about themselves and each other as well as a few shocking family secrets that will change their lives forever. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 96 minutes, Rated R)
Quinceañera As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her working-class family prepares for the all-important Quinceañera, a lavish coming-of-age celebration. To help with expenses, Magdalena is forced to wear a hand-me-down party dress and abandon her dream of arriving in a Hummer limousine. But, when her father discovers she's pregnant and refuses to believe the incredible truth -- she's actually still a virgin -- Magdalena moves in with her elderly Uncle Tomás and black sheep cousin Carlos. Her newfound family is soon put to the test, however, when an unexpected crisis threatens to tear them apart, and Magdalena learns what it truly means to come of age. (DVD, In Spanish with English subtitles, 91 minutes. Rated R.)
Romero is a compelling and deeply-moving look at the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who made the ultimate sacrifice in a passionate stand against social injustice and oppression in his country. This film chronicles the transformation of Romero from an apolitical, complacent priest to a committed leader of the Salvadoran people, leading to his assassination in 1980 at the hands of the military junta. (DVD, In Spanish with English or French subtitles; Video in Spanish with English subtitles; 105 minutes, Rated PG-13)
