Isabel Mestres Movies

Leaving a lot of paths started but untrodden, this routine drama about a man fighting the system and losing flips back and forth between prison scenes, bank scenes, and what appears to be an incompetent Spanish court system. Cesar (Patxi Bisquert) is an up-and-coming banker, a champion of liberal causes, and a conscientious objector -- all rolled into one. After he discovers some irregularities in the bank's accounts, he tries to blow the whistle, but that only lands him in prison on the charge of forging a check. From that moment onward, things only seem to get worse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Gonzalo (Arturo Fernández) is a local "playboy" type who has landed in jail and is forced to talk one of the inmates, Gines (Francisco Rabal) into protecting him against the rowdier low-lifes in the prison. Gonzalo promises that when he is on the outside in a few months, he will repay Gines for the protection he needs now. Little does he know that the payment will involve hiring Gines as his gardener -- a gardener who would rather run Gonzalo's business ventures than pull weeds. It is the conflict between the meddling, tough-guy prisoner and the sophisticated Gonzalo that causes the most unexpected results in this comedy about the immiscibility of oil and water. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

One man's inability to develop any serious, committed relationships with women is the focus of this standard romantic drama by Fernando Mendez-Leite]. Pedro (Xabier Elorriaga) teaches literature in an all girls school and is clearly dedicated to his profession. After he meets Aurora (Marilina Ross) at a party, she turns out to be more than he can emotionally handle. An Argentinian exile, Aurora has all the passion that Pedro seems to have missed in his life. Deciding he would rather switch than change, Pedro goes looking for other women, but in all the wrong places. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two wealthy and powerful Catalan families have gathered at the Martis mansion to celebrate the betrothal of their children. The alliance between these aristocratic families is taking place for expedient reasons: romance has no place in the conveniently arranged upcoming marriage, except by convention. Awkward speeches are made by the two families gathered in the house of the bride's family. Meanwhile, the family piano teacher and Fina's future husband have gone off for a little privacy, and they have a sexual interlude. They are interrupted by the boy's father, who sends the teacher away and takes the chastened boy downstairs for the obligatory cheerful photographs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Slow in parts but still engaging and well-acted, this drama by Vicente Aranda explores the changing nature of a former fascist, Luis Forest (Lautaro Murua), and his relationship to his niece Mariana (Victoria Abril). Luis has retired to the seacoast to devote himself to writing his memoirs and ruminating over his failed marriage. His sister is worried about him and so she sends her daughter Mariana to check up on how he is doing. The wildly carefree Mariana and her silent photographer friend shake up Luis' staid world. Slowly, Mariana's taunting and teasing break down Luis' intellectual barriers and as that happens she becomes more interested in him. As flashbacks indicate, Luis was not the militant fascist everyone imagined. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

There is a certain consistency in Alicia's dreary life. Her mother died giving birth to her, and her upbringing was handled by her pious Catholic father, who ran a movie theater. After living in a fantasy world for much of her childhood, she finds boarding school an uncomfortable way to come awake. Unhappy as an adult, she dies suddenly while resisting a date rape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Three booze-soaked near-derelicts have a series of macabre adventures on the day when one of them was supposed to report to his new job at the mine, located near their northern Spanish town. Set at the end of the 19th century, and based on A Esmorga by Eduardo Balnacoamer, this story follows the trio on the bender to end all benders. The fellow with a new job is waylaid by his buddies who haul him off to a local bar. There, they get into a fight and wind up knifing a miner. They escape over the wall of a nobleman's villa, and have several strange adventures before settling down peaceably for a late-night drink. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide