Spanish Movies

The filmmaking team that stunned viewers with City of God returns with this series about two teenage boys coming of age in the dangerous slums of Rio de Janeiro. Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) and Acerola (Douglas Silva) are two 13-year-old boys who have made their home in a small shantytown in the mountains of Rio. Though life can be hard in such a volatile environment, their spirits are strong and serve well to help the pair endure even when it seems that all hope is lost. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Gerardo Chijona directs this screwball comedy hailing from Cuba. Macho truck driver Candido (Enrique Molina) forbids his drop-dead gorgeous daughter Sissy (Thais Valdes) to become a dancer at Havana's hippest club, the Tropicana, though she does so anyway. On the job, Candido accidentally smashes into hunky biker Sergito (Vladimir Cruz) who has a star-shaped mole on his butt, just like Candido. Out of guilt, he brings Sergito home to recuperate. Though Sissy is more than delighted at having this injured Adonis lollygagging about the house, Candido's buddy Promedio (Litico Rodriguez) fears a potential sexual encounter. As all of this is going on, Candido's arch-nemesis Armando (Santiago Alfonso), a choreographer at the Tropicana, tries to strike vengeance by seducing Sissy. When she rebuffs the creep, she is demoted to chorus girl. As the film progresses, subplots are layered upon subplots until the film's delirious denouement. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Upon learning that his estranged son in Buenos Aires may have attempted suicide by mixing dog tranquilizers with booze, expatriate Argentine film director Martin immediately leaves Madrid. Upon his arrival in Argentina, he learns that his ex-wife has given up on the aimless, depressive 19-year-old and wants him to contend with the youth back in Spain. Martin agrees, and his son, who is also named Martin, returns with him. Martin, Sr. lives with his cocaine-addicted, much-younger girlfriend Alicia and their mutual friend Dante, a homosexual actor. Though at some level, he cares for both, he is just too emotionally removed to ever show it. It is the same with his son, whom he calls H (pronounced "hache"), meaning hijo or son. Still, each member in the strange family attempts to reach the zombie-like boy, whose only interests seem to be the pursuit of sex and drugs. Essentially an internal drama centered around numerous intense and challenging conversations, this entry from Argentine filmmaker Adolfo Aristarain will most likely appeal to those who love intellectual cinema. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Writer/director Pablo Trapero crafts this tender tale of an incarcerated woman who gives birth to a baby boy and struggles to raise her son behind bars as she comes to the bleak realization that he is the only one who matters to her anymore. It all started when a pregnant Julia woke up in her apartment flanked by the bloodied bodies of her former lovers Nahuel and Romiro. Subsequently sent to a prison for mothers and pregnant convicts, Julia railed against the system by withdrawing into her own world. Upon giving birth, Julia realizes just how difficult it could be to raise a son in prison, but each day her feelings for the boy swell stronger within her. Later, when Julia pays a visit to Romiro in the men's prison, it becomes obvious that the couple's feelings for one another are just as muddled as the events of that fateful night back in Julia's apartment. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A woman feels she must fight to hold on to her place in the household where she's been a servant for much of her life in this drama from writer and director Sebastian Silva. Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) works as a maid for a well-to-do Chilean family, and has been with the household so long that she's come to think of herself as part of the family. However, Raquel is also aware of the distance between herself and her employers, and though she's fiercely devoted to Mundo Valdes (Alejandro Goic), his wife, Pilar (Claudia Celedón), and their son, Lucas (Agustín Silva), she finds herself increasingly at odds with their rebellious daughter, Camila (Andrea García-Huidobro). Years of hard and unrelenting work have begun to take their toll on Raquel, and Mundo decides she could use some help; he hires a young au pair, Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva), to assist her, but Raquel refuses to allow anyone to usurp her role in any way, and treats the girl so horribly she soon quits. Unaware of the conflict between Raquel and Mercedes, Mundo hires an older and more experienced women to work with Raquel, Sonia (Anita Reeves), and it's not long before the two domestics are locked in a fierce battle of wills. La Nana (aka The Maid) received its American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Sisters Minerva (Michelle Rodriguez), María Teresa and Patria Mirabal form Las Mariposas (The Butterflies), and rally against the tyrannical rule of ruthless Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Leonidas in this docudrama from director Juan Delancer. Narrated by Dedé Mirabal. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

From Focus Features, the premiere global brand in original and daring cinema, comes FOCUS WORLD. Charged with finding the most exciting voices in international and independent film, Focus World is proud to bring you VIPs, the thrilling new adventure from producer Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener), based on a true story of one of the world's most legendary conmen.

A Cuban exile searches for his long-lost mother, as well as his cultural heritage, in this drama. Roberto Delgado (Jorge Perugorria) is a college professor living in Miami who was born in Cuba; Roberto and his father fled Cuba shortly before the final stages of the revolution, and he grew up believing that his mother Carmen abandoned the family rather than join them in the United States. After 32 years in America, Roberto has developed a gnawing curiosity about Carmen, the mother he hasn't seen in over three decades, and decides to take a vacation in Cuba in hopes of finding her. In Havana, Roberto tracks down his cousin, Pilar (Isabel Santos), who informs him that his father actually kidnapped him, taking him to the United States against his mother's wishes, and that Carmen was so distraught by the loss of her child that she ended up in a mental institution. With Pilar's help, Roberto sets out to find his mother, with taxi driver Antonio (Mario Limonta) as their guide and driver, though it sometimes seems as if the harder they look for Carmen, the father away she seems to get. Honey for Oshun was the first Cuban production shot on digital video equipment; it received its North American premier at the 2001 Montreal Film Festival, and was later shown in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Luis Restrepo makes his feature debut with this tense tale of two brothers torn apart by Colombia's modern-day civil war. Wilson (Hernan Mandez) is a hot-headed young father who joins the country's guerrilla forces, leaving his wife Paulina (Carolina Lizarazo) and their child alone. Meanwhile, Tono (John Alex Toro) joins the official army until Wilson's death forces him to take care of Paulina, who's determined to trek to Bogotá for a better life. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

The Spanish language action-thriller Peligrosa Obsesion concerns three individuals (Pablo Echarri, Mariano Martinez and Carol Castro) who are strangers to each other, but share a desperate need to get their hands on a drug shipment. Each individual has a different motive, a different purpose. The parties join forces and go on the lam in search of the stash, outwitting a drug trafficking syndicate and corrupt cops en route. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

In June of 2000, a young homeless man, evidently high on drugs, made a failed attempt to rob a bus in a wealthy Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. When his plans went awry, the young man, Sandro do Nascimento, armed with a pistol, took the bus passengers hostage. Soon, cops and reporters surrounded the bus. A SWAT team arrived. About four hours later, the incident came to a horrific and tragic end. Filmmaker José Padilha's documentary, Bus 174, explores the events of that day. The film uses a great deal of file footage of the event, in addition to interviews with hostages, policemen, reporters, and others connected to the incident and to the unstable and desperate young man at its center. The filmmakers explore social conditions in the city, along with the personal traumas that led Sandro to his desperate act. As a child, Sandro had witnessed the brutal murder of his mother, and had subsequently found himself on the streets at an early age. In 1993, he survived the infamous massacre of homeless youths at Candelária, which is widely thought to have been committed by police officers. Sandro was also imprisoned at a youth facility, and in a city jail, and the appalling conditions in those prisons are also depicted in the film. Bus 174 was shown at New Directors/New Films in 2003. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Five strangers from various parts of the Iberian Peninsula experience an outbreak of seemingly unrelated supernatural phenomena that only later take on greater significance in veteran director George Sluizer's 2002 seriocomic fantasy The Stoneraft. Joana (Ana Padrao), Jose (Gabino Diego), Maria (Iciar Bollain), and Joaquim (Diogo Infante) are all experiencing events they cannot logically explain: A flock of starlings follows Jose everywhere he goes, while Joana creates small fault lines with her walking stick; Joaquim not only raises an impossibly large stone with only his hands but also throws it out to sea; while unraveling one sock, Maria discovers the thread has no end. Pedro's (Federico Luppi) -- the fifth stranger -- experience is the most significant, as he alone feels a bizarre tremor that eventually leads to the entirety of Iberia dislodging itself from the rest of the European continent. As the new island begins to drift toward North America and a catastrophic collision appears imminent, the majority of the Spanish and Portuguese populations begin to abandon the renegade land mass. The five prophets, however, seek an answer to all of these puzzling events and are thus drawn together on their mutual quest for truth while preparing for what seems to be an approaching apocalypse. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

A young woman's unplanned visit to an abandoned village awakens a deadly ancient evil in director Amando De Ossorio's eerie, graphic horror flick that spawned a trio of lesser sequels. While vacationing with a male friend named Roger (Cesar Burner), pretty Virginia (Elena Arpon aka "Helen Harp") runs into her old girlfriend, Betty (Lone Fleming), with whom she once shared an intimate experience. At Roger's insistence -- and to Virginia's annoyance -- Betty joins the couple on a train excursion. Virginia decides to jump off the train and camp out in the solitary village of Berzano. She discovers the place is a ghost town, but as night closes in, evil Templar knights rise from their graves to kill her and to drink her blood. The next day, Betty and Roger begin searching for their friend, but are shocked when a detective (Rufino Ingles) takes them to identify her brutalized corpse. Their investigation leads them to a local expert, Professor Cantell (Francisco Sanz), who explains the terrifying legend of the Templars: 13th century Satan-worshipping knights who were executed and had their eyes plucked out by crows. Meanwhile, Virginia's corpse rises from the dead and kills a morgue attendant before being torched by Betty's frightened assistant. Not wanting to believe Cantell's outrageous story, Roger and Betty meet with the professor's son, Pedro (Joseph Thelman), a suspect in Virginia's murder because of his criminal background. He agrees to help them stake out Berzano and find the real killer, but as night arrives, the blind Knights rise once again from their graves leading to murder and mayhem. Betty manages to escape and jumps on a passing train, but it's all for nought as the horse-riding Templars catch up to the train and continue their bloody rampage. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi