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.