Walter Vidarte Movies

Mario Gas directed this music-themed Spanish drama set in Barcelona of the mid-'80s. When famed composer Lluis Doria (Laurent Terzieff) visits a transvestite club, he learns his lifelong friend Albert Rossell (Serge Reggiani) is the house pianist. A flashback takes the tale four decades into the past where the younger Rossell (Pere Ponce) rejoins Teresa (Paulina Galvez) after having spent years in prison for helping anti-Franco anarchists. The story continues into Paris of the '30s, the period when Doria and Rossell first met, sharing a mutual interest in music and Teresa, before civil war sent them in different directions. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This Spanish thriller is set in the seamy side of Barcelona during the mid-'80s and tells the story of Maria, a drug addict and dealer. She is trying hard to clean up her act, but first she wants to do one more major deal with her friend Rafa. Unfortunately, their well-laid plans begin unraveling right from the start and soon they find themselves forced to flee from corrupt policemen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Carlos (Carlos Hipolito) is a steady sort of fellow, a law-abiding insurance salesman. Somehow, in his competition with his raffish, gambling-addicted brother Toni (Juanjo Puigcorbe), he has won the hand of Julia (Lydia Bosche) and they have married. For ten years, they have generally gone their seperate ways without much contact. However, one day Toni shows up to make life a living hell for Carlos. Not only does he seduce his wife, but he screws up his insurance business. The conflict between these wildly differing brothers escalates until there is violence between them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Fidel has had a difficult life, and it seems clear that it will only grow more difficult. He is a deaf-mute who is studying sign language at school with a man who is seriously troubled. He is also involved with a gang of robbers who are being pursued by a no-good cop. The cop, too, has troubles of his own. While Fidel's divorced signing instructor begins to fall in love with a gay transvestite, and the cop who is pursuing him discovers that his son is using marijuana, Fidel himself is falling in love with a deaf girl. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

King Carlos II of Spain (r. 1665-1700) once sent his brother Luis to lead a military expedition into Albania and conquer that land for the Spaniards. Since Albania was a part of the dowry of Luis' wife, it seemed like a reasonable idea at the time. While that expedition and its final battle is the subject of this historical film, the scale involved can hardly do justice to the concept. The protagonists talk incessantly, and by the time they get down to the final grand battle, it turns out to be a skirmish between several dozen men. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this absurdist comedy, Tobi is a perfectly ordinary boy who just happens to have sprouted a functioning pair of wings. His distraught parents have them surgically removed, but they grow back again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The rapacious exploitation of South American resources by foreign companies is not a new phenomenon; it began with Christopher Columbus and continues today. However, the cynicism, greed and inhumanity of a 19th-century British company in exploiting the quebracho forests of the Chaco in northern Argentina has rarely been equalled. This drama shows how the corporation, with the cooperation of authorities, enslaved the local population to harvest every one of the tannin-producing (but slow-growing) quebracho trees, leaving behind a decimated and impoverished population and a wasteland with no quebracho trees. The film also shows how the resistance of the local people was brutally suppressed so that the lucrative trade could continue. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This grim and plodding drama concerns a young man who goes to work in a hardware store in a poor rural area. The owner is an old man who promises the young man he will inherit the store when he dies. Having no other means of support, the young man suffers daily indignations at the hands of his employer, swallowing his pride and tempering his thoughts of future ambition as he waits for the old man to die. He does find time to fall for a girl, the unstable daughter of a hopeless alcoholic, and the girl's mother agrees to the relationship when she hears of the young man's impending inheritance. When his employer finally dies, the two are married. To his horror, the young man soon discovers that his wife treats him with as much or more disrespect than he ever received from his irascible boss. He contemplates murder and suicide, convinced it is the only way he can escape the dilemma. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This interesting drama by director Lautaro Murua is about the difficulty of walking the straight and narrow in the face of an unrelenting poverty. The title of this story is taken from the name of the great Argentine singer Carlos Gardel, the idol of the antihero Toribio (Walter Vidarte). Toribio's goal in life is to emulate the famous singer and gain his own niche in the music business. Yet at the same time, he does not stop his illegal means of making ends meet -- stealing and petty thievery. Discouraged when his big break never quite materializes, Toribio heads for disaster when he joins up with a large smuggling operation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This conventional Argentinian drama is a remake of the 1946 French version of Gringalet, with the setting changed to Buenos Aires and its port. After a wealthy businessman discovers that a certain pecadillo in his past has produced an illegitimate son, he overcomes his shock and then seeks out the young man, Gringalet (Walter Vidarte). Gringalet has been working at a blue-collar job in the port area and is quite easy-going about his life. His new-found father takes him home and tries to make him a part of the family. Even when Gringalet manages to finally attain acceptance from the haughty matron and her brood, he is not at ease in this new luxurious environment. Should he stay or should he not? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide