Pere Ponce Movies
The Spanish comedy Dias de Futbol (Soccer Days), written and directed by The Other Side of the Bed screenwriter David Serrano, is an ensemble film about an ex-convict. Antonio (Ernesto Alterio) returns to his circle of friends. His associates include Jorge (Alberto San Juan), who is as repressed and fearful as Antonio is outgoing and fearless. Jorge pines for Antonio's sister Violetta (Natalia Verbeke), but she is not inclined to reciprocate those feelings. Antonio feels he knows a thing or two about people having undergone therapy in prison and decides to build up Jorge's self-confidence by forming a soccer team. Among the new teammates are local policeman Miguel (Luis Bermejo), ambitious young actor Charlie (Pere Ponce), and bus driver Ramon (Roberto Alamo). The travails in their personal lives and their coming together as a team form the action in this character-driven vehicle. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernesto Alterio, Alberto San Juan, (more)
Filmmaker Oscar Aibar wrote and directed this Spanish film which blends together elements of the science-fiction and psychological-thriller genres. UFO-sightings are on the rise, and the country has become enthralled with the ominous threat of extra-terrestrials. Making the situation more serious is the mysterious discovery of two bodies bearing an enegmatic notes about beings from outer-space. Platillos Volantes stars Jordi Vilches and Angel Andres Lopez. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jordi Vilches, Ángel de Andrés Lopez, (more)
- 2000
In this farcical comedy, Renato (Pere Ponce) is a gay man who meets Ginevra (Claudia Gerini), a member of a lesbian rock band, at a friend's wedding. The two get along well, and when Renato's grandmother tells him, as her dying wish, that she'd like him to have sex with a woman just once so he would know what he's missing, he feels honor bound to try it -- and figures that Ginevra would be the best woman to ask. To their mutual surprise, Ginevra and Renato quite enjoy the experience, and they soon find that they have a lot of explaining to do to their respective significant others, Elisa (Ana Risueno) and Francesco (Paolo Sassanelli). La Vespa e la Regina was the debut feature for director Antonello De Leo. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Gerini, Pere Ponce, (more)
- 1999
El Arbol De Las Cerezas (aka The Cherry Tree) is a well-crafted but unsentimental look at life through the eyes of a child in a remote Catalan village in Spain. Angel (Blai Pascual) is a young boy who lives with his sister and grandmother; his father is gone, his mother is away working with the circus, and he thinks often about the possible death of his grandmother, who he believes will go to a heaven full of the cherry trees he likes to draw. Angel's older sister Dolors (Diana Palazon) desperately wants to get out, and has had romantic connections with most of the men in town until she makes the acquaintance of the village's new doctor. And for most of the people living in the village, life is a matter of petty crimes, minor disappointments, and quiet desperation. El Arbol De Las Cerezas/The Cherry Tree was well received in showings at the 1999 Puerto Rico Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pere Ponce, Diana Palazon, (more)
- 1998
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
- Starring:
- Jordi Mollà, Pere Ponce, (more)
- 1996
In this metaphysical Spanish sex comedy, a diving accident causes the spirit of a soccer manager to exchange places with a female rock star. The switcheroo couldn't have happened at a worse time because coach Juan Antonio needs to be at his macho peak to spur his team to victory during the upcoming Real Madrid championship. Belinda, the singer, is none too happy either, for the change ruins her plans to marry Eduardo, the manager of the hotel where the mishap occurs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
This lively western from Spain centers on the exploits of a wealthy young troublemaker who escapes from a Franciscan monastery and teams up with a handsome country boy who has run away from the Army. Together the two try to become outlaws and pose as gang members under the notorious El Argentino, an outlaw who plies his trade upon the border of Portugal and Galicia in northern Spain. The two "bandidos" steal horses and rob a taxman as they flee for the border. Along the way another fellow joins them. Much to their surprise, the fellow turns out to be a female reporter for the New York Times, hoping to interview El Argentino. Unfortunately, the outlaws have never met him. They meet him soon enough when he captures them. Proving to be a vain but basically good-hearted outlaw, he spares them and together they all take off with the Civil Guard hot on their trail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Music and sex provide the motivation for this lively Spanish comedy that centers on 20-year old horn player, Pablo, who is nursing a broken heart after breaking up with his boyfriend. Following a failed audition for the National Youth Orchestra, Pablo encounters another musician, Salome who doesn't believe he is really gay and takes him to a psychiatrist to prove it. Pablo's domineering mother, a laundress who affects a vast musical knowledge, wants him to reunite with his former lover, but this does not stop her son from secretly wishing he could be with Salome who in the meantime, falls in love with Pablo's father, a music teacher, who has quietly used his influence to sneak his son into the orchestra after all. Mayhem ensues as Pablo simultaneously deals with his sexual ambivalence and a gentle rivalry for first chair in the horn section. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The second film from writer/director Whit Stillman, Barcelona is a smart, urbane comedy of manners set in Spain at the tail end of the Cold War. Taylor Nichols stars as Ted, an American salesman living in Barcelona. Out of the blue, he is visited by his acidic cousin Fred (Chris Eigeman), a U.S. Navy officer sent abroad to work damage control on rising anti-American sentiment. The textbook "Ugly American," Fred travels through the city in full military regalia, impervious to the constant taunts of "Fascist!" Like the similarly self-absorbed Ted, who has become involved with political activist Monsterrat (Tushka Bergen), Fred also finds romance, with a party girl played by Mira Sorvino. A brittle fish-out-of-water comedy, Barcelona is literate and sophisticated, a knowing essay on cultural identity and perception. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taylor Nichols, Christopher Eigeman, (more)
This lively Spanish anthology, based on a series of short stories by Catalan writer Quim Monzo, is comprised of 15 short vignettes that contain a series of comments concerning those human relationships based on love, emotions and sex. Each segment is introduced by a one word title card that is spoken by the players. Included are short conversations, monologues, mini-plays, two fantasy segments, and a one-sided telephone conversation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ana Lizaran, Jordi Bosch, (more)
- 1986
Amadeu (Sergi Mateu) is a popular nighttime disc jockey in this offbeat sex comedy. After a phone-sex call from the daughter of a German ambassador, she comes to the radio station for the real thing. Amadaeu's neighbor is an eccentric Hell's Angels biker who cracks up his beloved bike while making love to his girlfriend. Other listeners are two bakers and another neighbor who becomes sexually aroused with his nightly program. The feature is plagued by uneven English subtitles that contain many mistakes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi Mateu, Pepe Munne, (more)
