Best of Spanish film to hit town

Best of Spanish film to hit town

Kenny Santana, Contributor, Jakarta, qnoy2k@yahoo.com

Pedro Almodovar, Javier Bardem, the Goya awards: these are
probably the most familiar names among the vocabulary of Spanish
cinema. In the upcoming Spanish Film Week due to open next
Tuesday, these trademarks of Spanish cinema -- along with a few
other surprises -- will be in town to greet local moviegoers on
celluloid.

With a long list of international awards and a repertoire of
29 movies spanning over 30 years of his career, Almodovar is
naturally the first name on one's lips when it comes to the
cinematic world of Spain. Almodovar often takes sexuality, his
favorite subject, and makes it funny, heartbreaking and human.

During Spanish Film Week, the Spanish cultural center,
Instituto Cervantes Yakarta, will present two of his early works:
Live Flesh and What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Live Flesh is about a policeman (Javier Bardem) who is shot
accidentally and becomes a wheelchair basketball star, only to
have the shooter reenter his life after the culprit is released
from prison. And 1984's What Have I Done to Deserve This? takes
on the subject of working-class women in modern Spain.

Both films present wonderful performances, some kinky jokes
and, as always, poignant drama.

Another great director whose name might not be as familiar as
Almodovar, but is equally talented, is Julio Medem. A
retrospective of his feature-length work, from his debut film
Vacas (Cows) to Sex and Lucia, offers a rich showcase of this San
Sebastian-born director.

Having been compared to David Lynch and Krzysztof Kieslowski,
Medem's films are famous for its particular framing and radical
use of time, place and perspective.

Instituto Cervantes Yakarta coordinator Rafael Martin Garcia
said, "Medem is very important in Spanish cinema. Already with
his first work, Cows, he got the attention of the media. The Red
Squirrel and Soil put him at the top, and he is now considered
among the most refined and original filmmakers for esthetics and
his cinematographic language. He is a good director
with huge personality in his work. And we can capture a side of
Spain, whether the colors or atmosphere, in every film he made."

Don't miss Medem's best-received film, The Lovers of the
Arctic Circle, a magnificent boy-meets-girl story that covers a
span of 20 years. Utilizing a circular narrative, Medem takes
viewers to see through the boy's eyes, then the girl's, the boy
again and then the girl, and moves audiences to feel the on-
screen love. This is an intimate, romantic and head-spinning tale
of love.

Medem's earlier work, The Red Squirrel, tells of a suicidal
stranger who saves a girl from an accident, only to find out she
is an amnesiac. The fun takes off when the stranger pretends to
be the girl's boyfriend and encounters many surprises ahead.
Turns and twists in this sexual power theme will satisfy any
movie-lover.

Other titles from Medem like Cows, Soil and Sex and Lucia will
surely draw a split reaction from audiences. Some will praise his
unconventional manner of story-telling, while others won't be as
patient in following the surreal atmosphere of these movies. Yet
for fans of his works, it's a treat to follow his career of over
a decade.

For fare lighter than the artsy-fartsy movies that typically
dominate a film festival, audiences might enjoy Football Days.
Though it might seem a little misplaced in a film festival, this
ensemble comedy on getting your life back through football and
love is a feel-good gem for everyone.

Following the same pattern of Football Days in showing
intertwined lives is Cesc Gay's In the City. Winner of the Goya
Awards (the Spanish "Oscars") for Best Supporting Actor and
nominated for three more, including Best Screenplay and Best
Director, In the City is slow at times, but delivers a top-notch
performance with a great script. Wait for the wonderful ending
that lives up to the expectations the film builds up.

Also in the line-up is Take My Eyes, in which actress Laia
Marull delivers a performance of a lifetime as Pilar, an abused
wife on the run for her life. In 2004, the movie took home seven
major Goya awards, including Best Film, Best Actor and Best
Actress. This powerful drama and emotional roller-coaster ride is
a must-see for wives, husbands or simply anyone who's ever been
in a relationship.

Just as powerful is the The Sea Inside, which won 14 Goyas.
Touted as this year's Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, the film
presents Javier Bardem as a paralyzed Ramon Sampedro, who fights
for over 30 years for the right to take his own life.

Alejandro Amanabar, famous for his direction of Nicole Kidman
in The Others, offers a deep and thoughtful look on the debate
over life, death and euthanasia. Bardem proves himself as a first
rate actor, moving us to tears, to retrospection and to
recognizing the power of film. This heart-rending piece will
leave you thinking about life like never before.

Speaking to the press earlier, Bardem once said about the
moral implications of this issue: "No one wants to imagine
themselves in that situation. That was something (Sampedro) said
also, asking people what would happen if they had an accident and
were like him. The first reaction would be that they would prefer
to die. That's something I can never fully empathize with, I can
only imagine.

"But in order to have an idea, I went to the doctors and
talked to them, and they were telling me about the day-to-day
life of someone like Ramon. And I talked to four people with this
condition, and the funny thing was to see how they chose the
complete opposite, life. They all knew Ramon Sampedro and they
all respected him."

The questions of life and death in The Sea Inside, Almodovar's
comic-sexual tales, Medem's quirky love story, problems among
friends in In the City and domestic violence in Take My Eyes are
some of the themes and top fare offered by Spain's broad
cinematic experience.

But they all have one thing in common: they have a heart big
enough to move any audience, whether they are Spanish or not.

Spanish Film Week will run from Nov. 29 through Dec. 4. For
complete information, visit www.spanishfilmweek.com or contact
Instituto Cervantes at (021) 25569002.