Andres Gertrudix
Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro produces director Juan Antonio Bayona's gothic frightener about a long-abandoned orphanage with a particularly troubling past. As a child, young orphan Laura spent her formative years being cared for by the staff of a large orphanage located by the Spanish seaside. Those were some of the happiest years of Laura's life, and now, 30 years later, the former charge returns to the dilapidated institution with her husband, Carlos, and their seven-year-old son, Simon, to reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. However, something ominous haunts the darkened hallways of this silent, stately manor. When Simon's behavior begins to grow increasingly bizarre and malicious, Laura and Carlos start to suspect that the mysterious surroundings have awoken something ominous in the young boy's imagination. It's not long before Laura, too, is drawn into this disturbing web and the repressed memories of the past come flooding back in a terrifying torrent of tension and deeply disturbing revelations. With opening day drawing near and their situation growing increasingly grim by the hour, Carlos attempts to write off Simon's bizarre behavior as a desperate bid to get more attention from his distracted parents. Laura isn't so easily convinced of this theory, though, and soon embarks on a desperate quest to unearth the terrible secret that lurks in the old house, waiting for just the right moment to inflict devastating damage on both her and her family. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Chaplin, Belén Rueda, (more)
- 2007
The daughter of a 16th Century Spanish nobleman strives to transcend her role as a woman in society and achieve something truly profound in this period drama starring Paz Vega and Geraldine Chaplin. Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (Vega) knows well what is expected of her as a woman existing in a man's world, but she refuses to accept it. Convinced that she is capable of accomplishing much more than being a loyal wife and loving mother, Teresa enters a convent intent on writing, reading, learning, and living a full, richly textured life. Much to Teresa's dismay, the same vapid materialism and frivolity that seemed to have consumed the outside world have somehow found their way into the hallowed halls of this convent as well. In protest, Teresa embarks on a crusade of prayer and sacrifice that initially finds her branded a lunatic by those in power. But over the course of time something truly profound happens: a woman once considered mentally unstable gradually evolves to become a celebrated leader and, ultimately, a true saint of the highest order. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paz Vega, Leonor Watling, (more)
- 2006
A soccer player-turned-con man and an aspiring artist strike up a passionate romance in writer/director Rafa Russo's slow burn romantic drama. Argentinean ex-soccer player Ruben (Gustavo Garzon) has forsaken his athletic career to travel Spain and make a dishonest living. Struggling artist and failed mother Adriana (Ana Fernandez) longs to re-connect with her estranged son Damian (Andres Gertrudix). When the two divorcees meet by chance in a hotel bar, they form a fast bond that soon turns serious when Ruben proposes marriage. Later, as Ruben leaves for a "business trip" and Adrianna embarks on a desperate search for her long-lost son, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern whether Ruben's aim is true or Adrianna is simply the latest in a long line of unsuspecting targets for the unrepentant scammer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ana Fernandez, Gustavo Garzon, (more)
- 2006
A series of strange incidents at a rooming house suggest that sinister forces are at work in this low-key thriller from writer and director Pablo Malo. Avelina (Maria Jesus Valdes) is an elderly woman who runs a boarding house in a town along the coast of Spain. Her daughter Julia (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) runs a school for girls that has been hit with a minor scandal after one of her students was found dead in a nearby swamp. Marco (Jose Luis Garcia Perez), a teacher whose life has hit a rough patch, has come to the town seeking rest and moves into Avelina's house, as does Monica (Andrea Villanueva), the former roommate of the dead student. When Monica attempts suicide by jumping from a tall building, she tells her rescuers that she's been hearing the voice of her late friend day and night, while Marco notices a photograph in the house has suddenly added another figure, that of a former student who died under traumatic circumstances. Avelina begins to suspect that evil spirits have made a home in her rooming house, and she brings in a pair of paranormal researchers, Sergio (Vicente Romero) and Noe (Andres Gertrudix), to investigate. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Luis García Pérez, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, (more)
- 2006
A sullen doctor who is teetering on the cusp of middle-age is forced to revisit his painful family past in director Gerardo Herrero's adaptation of Almudena Grandes' best-selling novel. As children, Juan and Charo (Natalia Sanchez) were sweethearts until Charo was swept away by the charms of Juan's older brother Dami. Though Dami and Charo eventually marry, their union was simply not meant to be. Soon after the unhappy wife comes seeking solace in the arms of her husband's brother, tragedy strikes and Charo is killed in a deadly car accident. Years later, Juan is a forty-year old doctor who has relocated his family from Madrid to the village of Cádiz on Spain's Atlantic coast. In addition to caring for he and Dami's mentally handicapped younger brother Alfonso (Andres Gertrudix), Juan also acts as guardian to his young niece Tamara. When a relationship begins to develop between Juan and his Andalusian maid Maribel (Cuca Escribano), Juan's troubled past soon begins to work its way to the surface of things despite his best efforts to keep it under lock and key. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Luis García Pérez, Cuca Escribano, (more)
- 2005
Juan Vincente Cordoba's drama By Force focuses on the lives of five young women who live in a run-down section of Madrid. Maria (Natalia Verbeke) trains at a local gym in order to protect herself after years of physical abuse from her family. Juanita (Juana Acosta) has to make difficult decisions after she becomes pregnant by one of the men who train at the same gym. Vicky (Marian Alvarez) is an ex-con. Nitzia (Zay Nuba) must contend with the social pressure of being an immigrant. These characters face a variety of social prejudices and realities. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalia Verbeke, Daniel Guzman, (more)
When the only hope for a six stranded scuba divers suddenly threatens certain death, the group must come together and elude their pursuers to survive a harrowing night of terror in director Pau Freixas' waterlogged action-horror hybrid. A group of scuba divers float helplessly in the cast ocean, but when a large merchant vessel comes into vision on the distant horizon they assume that they have finally found salvation. The already precarious situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, however, when the six desperate divers bear witness to a brutal execution aboard the mysterious vessel. Now, with the malevolent crew determined to silence the scared stowaways forever, the stage is set for a bloody battle of wills on the open water. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silke, Unax Ugalde, (more)
- 2002
Stones is a film about shoes which functions on the old Native American proverb, "Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins." The shoes, in this case, belong to an ensemble of wacky characters whose lives are anchored to a brothel on the outskirts of Madrid. Adela is a long-suffering madam who must balance whoring with motherhood; Anita is her disabled, dog-obsessed daughter; Joaquin is one of Adela's most loyal clients, a tango-dancing businessman; Maricarmen is a taxi driver who can't get over her husband's death; Isabel is an eccentric rich woman fascinated by a foot-reading fortune teller; and Leire is a washed-up shoe designer. Together, this motley crew struggles to scrape through life and stay happy, learning to look beyond the quality of the shoes that they wear and to appreciate their quirky personality traits. This first feature film by Spanish director Ramón Salazar shows many influences from the films of Pedro Almodóvar, which often feature an ensemble cast in a slice-of-life situation where the rules of the normal world need not apply. ~ Connor McMadden, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonia San Juan, Najwa Nimri, (more)
- 2000
Two adults look back to their youth and discover how a seemingly minor incident shaped their lives in this drama from Spain. Lucia (Silvia Munt) is a woman in her early forties who moves back to the neighborhood where she grew up, taking over a house her grandparents once owned. To her surprise, she discovers that Juan (Gary Piquer), whom she knew as a teenager, is living across the street in the home where his grandparents once lived, and seeing one another brings back memories of their youth. In 1974, young Juan (Andres Gertudix) and Lucia (Cristina Brondo) are growing up in Madrid as Franco's regime is coming to a close. Juan, from a poor family, is infatuated with Lucia, and when he helps nurse an injured dog back to health, she starts to take an interest in him, though she already has a boyfriend, the wealthy Nacho (Eloy Azorin). Juan asks Lucia to attend a concert with him by Catalan vocalist Joan Manuel Serrat, but on the day of the show, Juan is forced to work late at his job; when he finally arrives at the concert hall, he discovers Lucia has already left to spend the evening with Nacho. Twenty-five years later, Lucia and Juan are both lonely and emotionally isolated, and they wonder how much impact this event had on their later relationships. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvia Munt, Gary Piquer, (more)
A boy from an abusive home finds a new lease on life through friendship in this drama from Spain. Pablo (Juan Jose Ballesta) is a 12-year-old boy growing up in an underprivileged neighborhood in Madrid. Pablo doesn't have many friends, and his home life is not happy -- his father Mariano (Manuel Maron) often beats him, and his mother Aurora (Golria Munoz) doesn't know what to do about it. Alfredo (Pablo Galan) is a new boy in town who has just enrolled in Pablo's class at school; Pablo and Alfredo strike up an immediate friendship, and Pablo feels comfortable with Alfredo's family, particularly his father Jose (Alberto Gimenez), who draws tattoos for a living, and his mother Marisa (Nieve de Medina). Alfredo's godfather has been hospitalized with AIDS-related illnesses, and when Alfredo goes to visit him, Pablo tags along, which angers Mariano and leads to another violent episode. Alfredo notices Pablo's bruises and tells his parents, and Jose enlists a social worker, Laura (Ana Wagener), to help find a safer environment for the boy. El Bola was produced in association with UNICEF. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1999
A group of likable losers aims for fame and fortune as a rock band in this comedy. Apolo (Fernando Cayo), a one-time security guard, is looking for something to do with his life, so he puts together a band with three of his pals, big-thinking Rodol (Andres Gertrudix), self-doubting Zalo (Pau Colera), and trouble-making Malu (Rebeca Jimenez). With drug fiend Kiko (Manolo Caro) as manager, the group adopts the name Shacky Carmine, and struggles to rise from total obscurity to relative obscurity. Shacky Carmine had the distinction of being the first Spanish film to open in theaters and on the internet at the same time. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Cayo, Andres Gertrudix, (more)
- 1997
Novelist Ray Loriga made his directorial debut with this stylish Spanish youth movie, based on his own novel. A mall security guard accuses a 17-year-old (Daniel Gonzalez) of stealing a comic book, so the "Young Man" shoots him in the face. He then steals a car, which is how he meets the "Girl" (Nico Bidasolo). Since she has suicidal inclinations, she finds the homicidal Young Man just her type, and they are tracked by the Inspector (Karra Elejalde) and the media as they drive off, muttering teen banalities. The gas tank is full, but their lives are running on empty. Shown at the 1997 Valladolid Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gonzalez, Nico Bidasolo, (more)
