Muntsa Alcañiz Movies
Circumstances force an unexpected maturity onto 15-year-old Tristan (Fernando Ramallo), an only child who had already been trying quite hard to "grow up" by losing his virginity. He accomplishes this easily enough by arranging for a prostitute to visit his home while his parents are off on a trip. But the life lesson he learns is different from what he'd intended when he learns of his parents' death in an airplane crash. When he moves into his grandparent's home, changes schools and falls in love for the first time, he is no longer able to keep intact his earlier snobberies and childish self-importance. This Spanish-language film is set in the later period of Francisco Franco's rule ('60s and '70s) and features excellent performances by its young cast. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Ramallo, Lucia Jimenez, (more)
- 1992
In this sex farce, two eccentric manufacturing families from far-flung regions of Spain have come to Madrid in order to try and influence a government ministry's decision about who will make a particular set of Army uniforms. The man of the house, in one of the families, has married into it purely as a business arrangement. His current extramarital arrangement is with the family company's lovely female lawyer. Meanwhile, his decidedly odd wife has been experiencing sexual ecstasies while reading self-help books, and her sister has been passing the years by longing for the return of an old lover, a political radical she lost track of years ago. It turns out that the former radical is now the government minister they all hope to influence, and the minister's assistant is intensely interested in his old flame, the sister. The competing family head is also pursuing the sister in the other family, under the mistaken impression that she is the adulterous lawyer. Meanwhile, a transformation is taking place with the do-it-yourself addicted wife. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosa María Sardà, Juanjo Puigcorbe, (more)
- 1988
Reviewers were scathing in their assessment of this exploitation film, made in the Catalan language. The vague story, set in Barcelona, has something to do with an executive who has a taste for prostitutes and the trouble this gets him into. The first part of the film chronicles his bedroom exploits, while the second part is a violent and incredibly gory and macabre shoot-em-up. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Gas, Eulalia Ramon, (more)
- 1987
This plodding romantic drama concerns two people trying to cope with the political changes in post-Franco Spain. Begona (Angeli Van Os) is a beautiful law professor who meets the prosperous government official Juan (Didier Flamand) at a left-wing political rally. He pursues her, and Begonia eventually falls for Juan. Heated political discussions always precede their passionate love making. A government agent with a compromising picture of the amorous duo convinces Juan that Begona is a KGB agent, and Juan is blackmailed into negotiating with Basque terrorists with headquarters in Paris and Brussels. Juan discovers he has been fooled when his Basque contact is assassinated. Unsure if she is really a spy, Juan prepares to sacrifice everything for love. Begona is slowly drawn to the prosperous comfortable lifestyle that Juan can afford and fears she is losing her political passion. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Didier Flamand, Muntsa Alcañiz, (more)
- 1984
In the ancient Phoenician city now known as Almería on the southeastern coast of Spain, three Civil Guards were convicted in 1981 of torturing and then murdering three men that were suspected Basque terrorists. This well-paced and suspenseful docudrama is about that case and how the courageous prosecutor -- insightfully interpreted by Agustín Gonzalez -- had to persevere in the face of death threats to himself and his family, had to brave the ominous power of the Civil Guards of Spain, and had to overcome the judges' reluctance to proceed with the case. The chilling presence of the Civil Guards at every turn in the court trial are like fascist remnants from the rule of Francisco Franco that ended only five years or so before these murders were committed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agustin Gonzalez, Fernando Guillén, (more)
