Norman Briski Movies

It took Spanish director Fernando Spiner four years to make this breathtakingly rendered account of a near future (the year 2010) in which the Argentine government freely uses citizens for experiments in mind control. In keeping with the notion of an authoritarian society wherein sameness is a virtue, Spiner filmed most of the story in black and white. Occasional glimpses of color provide hints that the gray world the protagonists experience may not be real. Along with 3,000 other citizens, Eva (Sofia Viruboff) is one day arrested and sent to the Center for Psychobiological Research where she is exposed to an amnesia-producing gas. She reawakens to discover herself given a new identity. At night, Eva dreams vividly in color, oblivious to the fact that the lunatic Dr. Gazzar (Lorenzo Quintero) is taping and watching her every internal scene. Her dreams lead Gazzar to deduce that Eva was once married to one of the government's most wanted terrorists, Gauna. Eva escapes, and Santos, the security chief for the Social Control Department, assigns Ariel Kluge (Eusebio Ponce) to follow her to Gauna's hideout and to kill the terrorist. A double-agent wanting to escape, Kluge teams up with Eva, who still isn't sure of her identity, and hits the road with Santos and Gazzaro following closely behind them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This drama is based on a novel and incomplete screenplay by the late Maria Luis Bemberg. In 1930s Argentina, wealthy Sebastian (Antonio Birabent) leaves his Buenos Aires home for the family estate on the pampas. His family, concerned for his physical and mental health, arranges for Sebastian's childhood friend Juan (Walter Quiroz) to check on Sebastian's situation. Juan finds the highly erratic Sebastian caught in a doomed relationship with the Danish daughter of religious sect members. Unfortunately, Juan also becomes obsessed with the young woman, and Sebastian's suspicions increase. Shown in 1997 at both the Toronto Film Festival and the AFI/Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Orlanda is a nurse, living and working in Stockholm, who dabbles at hippyish ways and who has one close woman-friend, a suicidal artist. She has a love affair with a Swedish diplomat who has been temporarily posted at home. When he returns to South America on assignment, she comes to visit him. There, she discovers that he is really committed to living the stuffy, circumscribed life of a career diplomat, and she begins to lose interest in him. Instead, she begins an affair with a local Marxist revolutionary and gets involved with his group's activities. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

On the heels of his award-winning Cria cuevos (Raise Ravens), Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura dashed off the muted psychological drama Elisa, My Love. Geraldine Chaplin stars as Elisa, who after an absence of 20 years is reunited with her father, Fernando Rey (in a superb performance, which won him the Cannes Film Festival "Best Actor" prize ). Having just divested herself of an unhappy marriage, Elisa hopes to heal old, long-standing family wounds. Inasmuch as Saura thrives on exploring "unspeakable" subjects in his films, one can gather that the relationship between Elisa and her father may be far more complex than it seems at first. Elisa, Vida Mia was released in English-speaking countries as Elisa, My Love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This excellent comedy vehicle for Norman Briski finds the actor playing ten different characters in six separate stories. The first story concerns a poor young man who chases after a 1,000 peso note at a construction site of a new building. The final story has a young man reluctant to marry the daughter of his godfather until he realizes the man is a wealthy and successful butcher. The talented actor plays three women out of his ten character portrayals. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A young clerk becomes a victim of boredom and quits his job. While his mother and family believe he is headed for insanity, he finds time to enjoy life away from the pressures of work and social responsibilities. Nestor (Norman Briski) makes good use of his idle time by reflecting on his life and future. His wife leaves him and his mother becomes increasingly worried, but Nestor takes the time necessary to recharge and contemplate his future. Soon he is ready to consider returning to the working life that had once been so depressing in this comedic social satire from the play by Ricardo Talesnik. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi