Santiago Ramos Movies

Hotel Danubio is a remake of José Antonio Nieves Conde's 1955 thriller, Red Fish, and was produced by José Luis Garci as part of a series of remakes of classic Spanish films. The film opens during a violent storm on the "Coast of Death" in 1955, the scene of a crime, and then jumps back in time to show what motivated the crime. Hugo (Santiago Ramos) is a struggling novelist, an older man in love with a pretty showgirl, Ivón (Carmen Morales). Hugo keeps telling Ivón that he plans to marry her as soon as he gets some money together, perhaps when his novel is published. But the prying Ivón finds a bank statement addressed to Hugo's house for someone named "Carlos," who has a lot of money. Suspecting that he's deceiving her, she angrily confronts Hugo. He explains that Carlos is his son, an architecture student, and that the money is Carlos' inheritance from a wealthy aunt who has disowned Hugo. Ivón visits Hugo's apartment, where she is intrigued to find a sexy photo of herself in Carlos' desk drawer. She begins to think that the wealthy young man has a crush on his father's girlfriend. She sends Carlos a note and a ticket to her show, and asks him to meet her. Hugo soon learns that Ivón is pursuing Carlos, and eventually confronts her about it, setting in motion a bold plan to steal the inheritance and salvage their love. Hotel Danubio was written and directed by Antonio Giménez-Rico, and was presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2004 as part of the series Spanish Cinema Now. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Directed by Cesar Herrada, Cuando Todo Este En Orden follows widower Ignacio (Santiago Ramos) on his return to his hometown. Things have changed since the last time he visited--now unemployed and poor, the clean house that he left two years ago is a mess, his moterbike has been sold by his son Pablo (Daniel Guzman) for drug money, and his spot in the local choir he had founded with his wife has been filled. Pablo, meanwhile, is returning home from a stint in rehab, and arrives on the same day as his father. Pablo's personal relationships are all on the rocks, from his wife and daughter to his father, and the now-sober young man decides to take whatever steps he can to repair them.

~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

One man's search for love takes him on an unexpected journey in this purposefully offbeat romantic comedy, which picks up where Eliseo Subiela's El Lado Oscuro Del Corazon left off. Struggling poet Oliverio (Dario Grandinetti) is still looking for the perfect woman, though his standards are a bit on the high side; he wants a woman whose passion will literally allow him to fly, and those who fail to make the grade disappear down a trap door near his bed. Oliverio is taken with Miranda (Carolina Peleritti), but while he wants love without commitments, she wants a stable relationship, so he sets out to find Ana (Sandra Ballesteros), an upscale prostitute with whom he once had a fiery affair. As it turns out, Ana is willing to offer Oliverio a one-night-stand, but with a daughter to look after, she isn't interested in much more than that. With his constant companions Female Death (Nacha Guevara) and Time (Manuel Bandera) at his side, Oliverio decides to travel to the coast of Spain in hopes of finding Alejandra (Ariadna Gil), a lovely high-wire artist he's seen on a circus poster. Oliverio meets Alejandra and tries to win her heart, but before she'll get involved with him, she demands that he prove his love by performing a dangerous tightrope routine, leaving Oliverio to wonder if this is more commitment than he can handle. Bringing back many of the players and locations from the first film, El Lado Oscuro Del Corazon 2 received its North American premier at the 2001 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this comedy from Spain, Manolo (Juanjo Puigcorbe) is a police lieutenant who has asked to speak to a group of law enforcement officials who will be having a meeting at a popular ski resort. Manolo's car breaks down en route, and while trying to hitch a ride, he gets a lift from a free spirited young woman (Laura del Sol) who is planning to spend a few days on the slopes. Manolo soons finds himself head over heels in love, but juggling his unexpected courtship with his duties to his fellow officers proves to be more taxing than he imagined. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When the forces of Gen. Francisco Franco overthrow the duly elected (but leftist) Republican government, soldiers loyal to the government head for the hills in northern Spain. The soldiers survive by making raids for food and by committing robbery and the kidnapping of a wealthy local. They spend years after the conflict in hiding, but their number soon dwindles to one when the rest are captured or shot. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This is a comprehensive docudrama (focusing more on truth than fiction) on the two weeks in 1936 that preceded Francisco Franco's war for control of Spain. The "Dragon Rapide" was the name of the plane that carried the fascist Generalissimo to Morocco and the beginning of the end of the Republican government in Spain. Plots and counterplots by a seemingly infinite array of militarists plague Spanish politics as Franco gathers his forces together and makes his plans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This entertaining comedy is set in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War when a group of Republican soldiers sneak into a village in enemy territory to steal a bull with plans of butchering it to feed themselves. Fate and the bull itself, however, have other plans. One of the surreptitious bull-snatchers knows the village well -- he grew up there, but that advantage alone cannot guarantee their success, as it turns out. The group of five would-be thieves dress themselves in uniforms of the Nationalist troops in an attempt to dissimulate their true identity. But instead of a neat getaway with a bull in tow, they are caught up in the "correo" or running of the bull, they get involved in a religious procession, and in the end, watch as the bull breaks out of a flimsy ring in a bullfight and heads for the hills. Still hungry, the group of men now have to worry about getting back to their own battalion before they are found out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this conventional comedy of manners, two men in the publishing business run into trouble both in the boardroom and in the bedroom. Their venture is starting to run out of black ink, and one of them is very suspicious of his wife's loyalties. Add in a right-wing author of children's stories, a hooker, a secretary driven to her wits' end (not a long journey), and the stage is set for comedy -- if only the script would follow suit. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi