Agustin Gonzalez Movies

Set during the time of the Spanish Civil War, this drama explores the efforts of the ancient mother of an elderly man to win an inheritance which can only be theirs if the mentally damaged woman she has persuaded her son to marry has children. When the old man cannot consummate the marriage with sufficient vigor to ensure offspring, the desperate old lady begins loaning the girl out for liaisons with other men in town, in particular the town's mayor. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Roberto Orbea (Jose M. Sacristan) is a Spanish socialist politician who used to be a lawyer. In the film, which is almost completely told in "flashbacks," he reminisces about his recent life. Despite many years of hiding his political beliefs, he is imprisoned and realizes while in prison that he is genuinely homosexual. All along, he has tried to put his sexuality aside, and he married a woman who shares his political beliefs. Even after his release at the end of the Franco era, he tries to avoid expressing his homosexuality, but eventually he and his wife set up a menage a trois with Juanito (Jose Luis Alonzo), a rough young adolescent who is probably a hustler. Featuring an appearance of the renowned director Juan Antonio Bardem, this film raised an outcry at the time of its first release for its explicit depiction of homosexual acts and for its outspokenly pro-Marxist political statements. The film also gained notoriety because it appears to tell the story of several well-known figures in Spanish society. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The last president of Catalonia, Lluis Companys i Jover, escaped to France after the Spanish Civil War, but was returned to Spain by the Vichy (collaborationist) government in 1940. He was later tried and executed, presumably for treason. This Catalan and Spanish-language movie follows his story from the fall of Barcelona to Franco's troops, to the time of Companys' capture and imprisonment. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A Marquis (Luis Escobar) suddenly becomes inspired to reclaim his palace, now gone to seed, right in the heart of Madrid. He and his son head for the city, without taking into account that his wife, the aged Marquesa is thoroughly ensconsed in the palace, has been for more than 40 years, and has no intention of leaving. In order to settle the issue, the Marquis decides to get his wife committed - not an unreasonable proposition given the fact that she has preferred to stay in bed all these years. Variously eccentric characters pop in and out of the palace as the Marquis tries to implement his plan, without much success. The Marquesa, in turn, manages to force him and her former lover into a duel in the garden and pulls out a shotgun to put them out of their misery and her life. Things backfire, so to speak, and the Spanish State comes into the picture, perhaps it will have more success where its old - very old - aristocracy has failed to measure up. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This is the third film in a sequence that started in 1978, about the Marquis de Leguineches, his hopeless son Luis José, his mistress/servant Viti, and in this instance, a Catholic priest. The Marquis has been living in Madrid since he lost his villa, and when his father-in-law dies, the family gets together and that becomes a catalyst for thinking more directly about their future. This leads to the Marquis' decision to leave Spain with the family's money, yet it will be difficult to cross the border without having their wealth confiscated by the authorities. So the Marquis fakes a broken leg and stashes the wealth inside his cast on a journey to Lourdes to seek a miracle. Unfortunately, France is no more amenable than Spain to the wealthy aristocracy since Mitterand's socialist government has just been elected into power. Between his unwieldy cast, the crazy family members, and the problem of where to go next to keep his fortune intact, the Marquis has a rough time of it. The repartée among the Marquis' family members and friends will entertain most audiences, but the originality of the 1978 family has worn thin by now and will be difficult to stretch into yet another episode in the future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In the three days before an operation on the cancer that is threatening to kill her, a film director (Mercedes Sampietro) remembers a few of the most poignant and meaningful relationships and dreams of her life. The premise for this partially autobiographical movie was taken from the real-life dilemma of the actual director, Pilar Miro. Miro had to undergo dangerous open-heart surgery and used her own experience to co-write the screenplay for Gary Cooper, Who Art in Heaven. In the film, the director's romantic involvement with a journalist and an art student, as well as how she views the results of those relationships, are aspects of her life that get careful scrutiny. A photograph of Gary Cooper just before he died brings mortality sharply into focus for her, hence the title of the film. She also considers her ambitions, dreams that may no longer have time to come true -- and wonders if they ever had a chance anyway. As the surgery approaches, the director's own pessimism colors her view of the life she has spent until that moment. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Enrique (Enrique del Pozo) and Ana (Ana Anguita) are two popular singers-turned-actors in this adventure story of the evil Baron Von Nekrus and his minions who are intent on becoming masters of the world, and the two youngsters who are out to stop him. Ana's good-hearted grandfather has been imprisoned by the Baron so he can extract his scientific knowledge, and now Ana and Enrique have joined a musical group called the Coconuts to go on tour and in that guise to infiltrate the Baron's headquarters. They are accompanied by their nanny and tutor Castaneta (Amparo Soler Leal) and an African explorer named Stanley (José Lifante). Against all odds, they get into the Baron's stronghold and free the grandfather -- but it does look very much like the nasty Baron will escape to continue with his nefarious plots in a sequel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Based on a 1943 book of the same title by Camilo José Cela, Colmena features the comings and goings of a wide variety of characters, all trying to survive in a poverty-stricken Madrid during World War II. Rather than feature any single story line, these people from all walks of life cross paths almost randomly as they come to a café to sip their one cup of coffee and work on a book, or pick up a prostitute, or get their shoes shined, or play billiards, or just warm themselves on a cold winter's day. This primary setting is complemented by a brothel where a dirt-poor journalist sleeps if there is a room available that night, while during the day he tries to make ends meet one way or another. The demeanor of the people in the café or in the brothel effectively conveys the atmosphere of a long-lost era that may have had hardships but also brought a subtle sense of camaraderie to very disparate human beings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A group of nine middle-aged companions get off the train from Madrid to begin a bicycle tour of the Guadarrama Mountains -- the same bike tour they took together 24 years before. Only this time, instead of halcyon memories and pastel-shaded visions of natural beauty, the nine start to bicker among themselves, petty concerns take over the day, and in the end, none of the group seem to be either happy or accomplished in anything at all -- they cannot even make a biking excursion hang together. When they do manage to ramble on (verbally and bicycling), the substance seems to have been let out of the dialogue like air out of a tire -- leaving the conversation flat as a pancake. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi