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Fernando Guillen-Cuervo Movies

2010  
R  
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A clown and an abusive sociopath vie for the attentions of a beautiful woman in this metaphorical drama from filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia. In 1938, civil war is raging in Spain, and the performers with a traveling circus are confronted by a band of Partisans who want them to fight against Franco -- or else. While the circus artists fight bravely, they're no match for the fascist leader's army, and many meet a bloody fate while others, like the Stupid Clown (Santiago Segura), end up in prison. The clown asks his young son, Javier, to avenge him someday, and in 1973, Javier (Carlos Areces) becomes a clown himself, working with a traveling carnival alongside Sergio (Antonio de la Torre), a man with an ugly and violent nature. Sergio has a girlfriend, a lovely trapeze artist named Natalia (Carolina Bang), who lives under his constant threats and abuse, and Javier soon falls for her. While Javier hates Sergio for what he does to Natalia, he has a hard time working up the courage to stand up to the bully, much as his father was hard-pressed to stop Franco's violent minions. Balada Triste de Trompeta (aka The Last Circus) earned Álex de la Iglesia prizes for Best Screenplay and Best Direction at the 2010 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Carlos ArecesAntonio de la Torre, (more)
 
2008  
PG13  
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A devastating betrayal sends James Bond from Australia to Italy and South America on a mission of vengeance that pits the suave super-spy against a powerful businessman with diabolical intentions. Betrayed by Vesper, 007 (Daniel Craig) suppresses the urge to make his latest mission personal as he teams with M (Judi Dench) to interrogate Mr. White (Jesper Christensen). It soon becomes apparent that the organization behind the blackmailing of Vesper is more powerful than Bond and M had previously anticipated, and after discovering forensic evidence that links an MI6 traitor to a bank in Haiti, Bond immediately sets out to gather more intelligence.

Once in Haiti, a case of mistaken identity leads Bond into the company of the ravishing Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a dangerous beauty with her own vendetta. It's Camille who leads Bond to a ruthless businessman named Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who is soon revealed to be the mastermind of a powerful but clandestine organization. Greene is conspiring to corner the market on one of the world's most precious natural resources, and in order to make that happen he has forged a deal with an exiled general named Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). By enlisting the aid of his many associates and using his vast resources to force contacts within the CIA and the British government into bending to his will, Greene plans to overthrow the current regime of a Latin American country and hand control over to General Medrano in exchange for a parcel of land that appears barren on the surface, but actually houses a natural resource that will make Greene the most powerful man on the planet. But Bond's mission to uncover the culprit who blackmailed Vesper and prevent Dominic Greene from exerting his will on the entire world won't be easy, because now everyone from the CIA to the terrorists and even M are out to get him. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Daniel CraigOlga Kurylenko, (more)
 
2006  
 
Fernando Guillen-Cuervo's comic road movie Los Managers (AKA The Managers, 2006) concerns Maca and Rena, two down-and-out hipsters who opt to fight unemployment by managing the singers David and Pipo in a televised vocal competition, and then coaching the men onto successful musical careers. The performers - promoted as Los Reyes del King - go on to play a series of low-class, sleazy dives, including pool halls, bingo palaces and bordellos. But then, La Rota turns up - a mysterious stranger who pays Maca, Rena, Pipo and David to mount a tour of the Costa del Sol. Thus begins a frenetic, picaresque odyssey, with the men encountering a series of eccentric and colorful characters on the road - everyone from adult movie starlets to nutty-as-hell marines to Tom Jones impersonators to extraterrestrials. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Starring:
Tejada Enrique VillenManuel Tallafé, (more)
 
2000  
 
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Religion has been called the opiate of the people, but one hapless soul finds his spiritual life turned upside down by too much marijuana in this comedy. Mariano (Karra Elejalde) is a traveling salesman who falls asleep while driving late at night, sending his car off the road and into a field -- which turns out to be part of an illicit marijuana farm. When Mariano awakes, he discovers that a team of policemen led by Sgt. Talavera (Manuel Manquina) has found the weed and set the field ablaze. The billows of fragrant smoke have a powerful effect on Mariano, and he imagines he's seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Word of Mariano's "holy vision" travels to evangelist Sister Trini (Gloria Munoz) in a nearby town, and he soon attracts a number of her followers who want to hear about how the Virgin spoke to him (leaving out the drugs, of course). Con man and self-styled spiritual seeker Tony Towers (Fernando Guillen Cuervo) sees a potential gold mine in Mariano, and soon involves him in a scheme to build a "holy shrine" that will help him separate naive country folk from their cash. Karra Elejalde and Fernando Guillen Cuervo wrote and directed Ano Mariano as well as playing the leading roles; the film was a major box-office success in their native Spain. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Karra ElejaldeFernando Guillen-Cuervo, (more)
 
1997  
 
The third feature from popular Spanish filmmaker Juanma Bajo Ulloa is a sprawling and complex action comedy with a touch of Almodovar-esque surrealistic absurdity that simultaneously satirizes gangster movies, film noir, and the Catholic Church. Juantxo is the chief protagonist. Coming from a bourgeois family, he has had all the opportunities to fulfill his father's wishes by obtaining a university degree, getting a high-paying job and making a place for himself in high society. The trouble is, Juantxo is a socially awkward idiot and a mamma's boy. He is, however, engaged to a rich and beautiful woman. A few days before his wedding, Juantxo's buddies Konradin and Paco persuade him to go out for a final night of oat-sowing. They are not long at the stag party when Juantxo falls for an exotic prostitute. Unfortunately he loses his fiancee's expensive engagement ring while messing with the hooker. Later, this valuable ring is discovered by Villambrosa, a gangster/pimp/international drug runner. His enemy Souza finds out about the ring and sends his sexy moll Fatima do Espirito Santo, a new age girl who can levitate, to investigate the situation. Meanwhile, Juantxo and friends frantically search for the ring. They have three days to find it and their journey takes them on a riotous road trip that leads them into the depths of the Mafia underworld. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Karra ElejaldeFernando Guillen-Cuervo, (more)
 
1996  
R  
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Victor wants to be a famous actor and so has come to Madrid in search of work. There he meets representatives of a Hollywood film company. They want him to appear in their next film as a real macho man. Meanwhile Victor works for a phone sex company and is called by lonely, closeted plastic surgeon, Ricardo and his "wife" Amanda. This riotous Spanish comedy chronicles what happens when Victor and Amanda fall in love. To help her get a divorce, he offers to take incriminating photos of himself and Ricardo making love so that she can sue for divorce. When he learns that Amanda is not Ricardo's wife, Victor is very surprised. Meanwhile, the real wife, Angela and her lover, her husband's business partner, want to kill Ricardo. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Javier BardemAitana Sanchez-Gijon, (more)