Ofelia Angelica Movies

Little Felipe has been sick for a long time. To hasten his recovery, his parents send him to spend the summer of 1958 in the villa of his grandparents, located in the wealthy quarter of Cadiz. The warm climate of southern Spain is good for the boy, but the inhabitants of the great home may be a different story as all the relatives within are a tad strange. There Felipe meets his great-grandmother and her tough nurse Adoracion who patiently listens to grandmama's reminiscence's of the bandoleros who died for her. Felipe is not allowed to leave his bed, but his hours pass pleasantly thanks to the ministrations of the sexy Mari, a virgin, who loves to tease her four strapping aspiring lovers. As the summer progresses, Felipe interacts with all of his relatives and from their strange behavior finds himself learning an awful lot about life and love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Director Claude D'Anna has tried for epic proportions in this less-than-epic film about incest, murder, suicide, and insanity in an aristocratic Sicilian family living in the 1950s. Count Villafratti (Max Von Sydow) has sex one night with his nymphomaniac daughter because he thinks she is his wife, and his wife, who is an operatic diva, hears of this just before she goes on stage. Later on, she commits suicide over the heinous act. In the meantime, their plantation workers are on strike, the communists and Mafiosos are fighting -- and the family's whole inner story (seen through the eyes of a visiting Sicilian-American who has come to bury his father here) is reflected in this outer turmoil. Segments of Verdi and Puccini at the opera house cannot do much to keep the entire scenario from seeming like a parody of itself. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's films are colorful, sexy, and very funny, and this one is a perfect introduction to his work. An emperor's son, Reza Niro (Imanol Arias), comes to Madrid in disguise and sleeps with Sadeq (Antonio Banderas), an Islamic terrorist with a highly developed sense of smell. Sadeq's group wants to kidnap Reza, who disguises himself as a punk rock singer and falls in love with Sexilia (Cecilia Roth), a nymphomaniac singer for a rival band. There's also a wealthy woman (Helga Line) who wants Reza's sperm for an artificial insemination, a delirious dry-cleaner who sleeps with his own daughter, and other bizarre characters. Almodovar takes delight in intersecting lives, chance meetings, and humor that springs from the strangest of situations. He also has the rare talent of presenting potentially offensive material in such a whimsical and affectionate fashion that no matter what his characters do, the audience loves them as much as he does. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

In this story (within a story) a man is remembering his years as a little boy living in Madrid during World War II, particularly important because his mother committed suicide in 1942. Scenes flip back and forth between the man in the present, and the man as a little boy, very much attached to his mother and intensely disliking his father. As these memories move into the complexities of life back then, the story stops and it is shown to be something entirely different than what it seemed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This allegorical drama is said to depict the state of Spanish society under Franco's dictatorship, and the film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1978. In the story, nothing can possibly go wrong at the annual dinner of the fishing club. Nothing will go wrong. The members are determined to see it just that way, despite evidence to the contrary. A mob of outsiders just tried to crash the party. The cooks briefly went on strike but were persuaded to serve up the members' catch of trout anyway. The fish is liberally dosed with good-tasting sauces. Despite the awful taste, the fish cannot possibly be rotten -- after all, the loyal members of the club just caught them. Nothing is wrong with the members either, although they appear to be dying. The party will go on, the usual self-congratulatory speeches will be made, and the awards will be given. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi