Guillermo Toledo Movies

Spanish writer-director Emilio Martínez Lazáro's bawdy musical comedy romance Both Sides of the Bed (Los Dos Lados de la Cama, 2006) constitutes a sequel to that director's earlier musical The Other Side of the Bed (AKA El Otro Lado de la Cama, 2002). Just as that first film plays out the farcical romantic shenanigans of a group of single young men and their lovers, the sequel offers more of the same, but adds greater depth to the proceedings. The story finds Javier (Ernesto Alterio) and Marta (Veronica) celebrating their pending nuptials in a nightclub, on the evening before their wedding. They are accompanied by two friends romantically involved with one another, Pedro (Guillermo Toledo) and the chanteuse Raquel (Lucia Jimenez). The plans of each couple are soon undone by Marta's hesitation - the product of her undeclared lesbianism and carnal involvement with Raquel (evident when the women quietly slip off to the ladies' room and have intercourse). A third friend, Carlota (Pilar Castro), happens to stumble onto the women making it, but says nothing to the boys. The next morning, Marta jilts Javier, Raquel leaves Pedro, and the remainder of the film has the men gradually coming face-to-face with the girls' lesbianism, while forging a deeper bond with Carlota. Throughout the film, Lazáro laces his picture with bubble-gum music (predominantly breezy 1970s and 1980s Spanish pop hits) and electric choreography, performed by an ensemble of twenty dancers. In lieu of employing musical asides, the director integrates the musical numbers into individual scenes. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A playboy has the tables turned on him when he finds himself being used as a plaything by an undesirable woman in this black comedy from Spain. Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) is a self-styled ladies' man working at an upscale department store in Madrid. Rafael thinks of himself as suave and sophisticated, and he has two goals -- to run the store's apparel department, and to seduce every woman he works with. Well, every woman except for one -- Lourdes (Monica Cervera), a homely sales clerk who obviously has a crush on Rafael, but is too nervous to talk to him. Rafael's primary rival for control of the clothing department is Don Antonio (Luis Varela), and Rafael becomes filled with rage when he learns that Don Antonio has been given the job he's worked so hard to attain. Rafael gets into an argument with Don Antonio after hearing the news, and in the midst of the quarrel Don Antonio drops dead. Rafael discovers to his horror that there was a witness to Don Antonio's sudden demise -- Lourdes, who is no longer acting quite so meek. Realizing she has Rafael in a tight spot, Lourdes informs him that in exchange for her silence and help disposing of the body, he must become her lover, and it isn't long before Rafael begins to buckle under the strain of serving as her sexual slave. El Crimen Perfecto (aka The Perfect Crime) was originally released under the punning title El Crimen Ferpecto (aka The Ferpect Crime). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gerardo Herrero's political drama El Misterio Galíndez (The Galindez File) uses the real life 1956 disappearance of Spanish political refugee Jesus de Galindez as its subject. Saffron Burrows plays a privileged college girl named Muriel who travels to Spain in order to finish her doctoral thesis about political rebellion; Galindez is the main focus of her work. With the help of a pair of locals (Guillermo Toledo and Txema Blasco), she learns that Galindez was publicly critical of the Dominican Republic's political leaders who may have been responsible for his death. Muriel eventually travels to Miami in order to uncover the truth. She is opposed throughout her search by an FBI agent (Harvey Keitel) who wants keep the truth hidden as it would reveal unpleasant facts about the United States' role in his disappearance. The film was screened at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A good woman falls for a bad man and is at once unwilling and unable to break free in this intense drama. Rosa (Isabel Ampudia) is an attractive and sensible woman who waits tables at a coffee shop; she's engaged to be married, and she and her fiancé are saving their money with an eye toward buying a market. One day, Rosa meets a handsome man named Ivan (Alberto Jimenez), and all her plans go out the window; Rosa is immediately attracted to him, and once she's gone to bed with him, she leaves her fiancé behind without looking back. Rosa and Ivan go into business together running a bar, but she soon discovers that beneath his glossy surface, Ivan is a louse -- he's unfaithful, throws their money away, sells drugs on the side, and gambles compulsively. But Rosa is as addicted to Ivan as he is to games of chance, and no matter what he does, she's willing to pay his bills and take him back, becoming more deeply obsessed the more he hurts her. In time, Ivan has run up debts so high that Rosa opens a brothel to pay off the bills; in the process, Rosa becomes a shrewd business woman and independently wealthy, but she still can't bring herself to walk away from Ivan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ramon (Jorge Alcazar), a shy and overweight 15-year-old, invites a school friend and the pal's girlfriend over one day to watch a video of Natural Born Killers. As luck and a heavy dose of irony would have it, Ramon accidentally slashes his friend's throat while tearing open a can of nuts, causing the girlfriend to flee in terror and a concerned neighbor to intervene, whom Ramon unwittingly knocks down the stairs to his death. Soon the unfortunate teen has been placed in a halfway house for troubled youths while his case awaits a full inquiry. Enter Marcelo (Alex Casanovas), a successful lawyer who has taken on Ramon's case as a favor to the teen's sister Gloria (Pepa Pedroche), who happens to be an old friend. Slowly Ramon begins to trust Marcelo and a friendly social worker (Guillermo Toledo), and forms a friendship with his ailing roommate, Anibal (Alberto Ferreiro). Ramon's emotional development is mirrored by that of Marcelo, whose involvement with the case forces him to come to grips with issues in his own life. El Otro Barrio is the second feature of writer/director Salvador Garcia Ruiz, who made a splash on the international festival circuit with his 1998 debut Mensaka. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

In this Spanish variation on The Full Monty, a group of men in desperate straits try to launch new careers as gigolos. Three men living in Madrid's working-class neighborhood -- street-smart Amancio (Antonio Molero), sheltered decorator Refor (Guillermo Toledo), and Felipe (Ernesto Arango), who is romantically involved with Amancio's sister Angeline (Sonia Javaga) -- have taken a stab at starting their own business that went bust, leaving them with little cash and few options. Fate adds insult to injury when Amancio's father ends up in the hospital, and Filipe's apartment is trashed by racist skinheads. When one of the men spots an ad looking for "Fulmontis," they decide to look into it, discovering that the advertiser is really looking for male escorts. Their attempts to slick themselves up and succeed as gigolos quickly prove a laughable failure, and soon the three men are entering a life of crime to pay the bills. Spanish rock band Los Enemigos provides the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide