Julio Medem Movies
Though not among the most prolific of the 1990's Spanish directors, Julio Medem has become one of the most respected and is considered by many the voice of post-democracy, Basque cinema. Medem started out directing short films and made his feature length directorial debut with Vacas (Cows) (1992), a beautifully rendered but unpretentious portrait of the close rivalries between Basque families; the film packed an emotional wallop not found in other art films. Vacas proved an auspicious debut and critics hailed Medem's craftsmanship and ability to marry the right images with his near mythic story lines.Before entering the film industry, Medem studied Medicine and General Surgery at the Universidad del Pais Vasco. He graduated in 1985. While in school, Medem wrote a movie column for the daily La Voz de Euskadi. He has also penned and co-penned articles for other film publications including Cinema 2002. He taught himself about cinematography in the mid-'70s, experimenting with a Super-8 camera. The result was a series of short films, beginning with the Hitchcockian El Ciego (The Blind Man) (1976). In one of his early short films, Fideos (1979), Medem effectively blurred the lines between recognizable reality and the abstract by having the camera view an abstract series of patterns in extreme close-up and then slowly back away to reveal a mundane scene of a man eating pasta. Medem has remained true to this blurring of lines and continues to explore the relationship between the abstract and reality in films such as La Ardilla Roja (The Red Squirrel) (1993) and Tierra (Earth) (1996), both of which have earned similar accolades at various international film festivals. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 2012
Seven directors offer their own unique visions of contemporary Cuba in this episodic, intersecting lives drama set over the course of seven days, and featuring segments by Benecio Del Toro's segment focuses on a tourist's initial impressions of the country; Juan Carlos Tabió's explores come common struggles and small pleasures experienced by the locals; Laurent Cantet follows a religious Yoruba family as they prepare to make an offering; Julio Madem plunges us into the middle of a passionate love triangle, Gaspar Noé raises religious tension with an exorcism;, Elia Suleiman introduces us to a foreigner (played by himself) who wanders through Havana anticipating an unknown event, and Pablo Trapero finds a famed actor arriving in Havana to be honored for his craft. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A night of passion between two people who've just met reveals more than they imagined in this erotic comedy-drama from Spanish filmmaker Julio Medem. Alba (Elena Anaya) is a beautiful woman from Spain who is on the last day of a vacation in Rome when she meets Natasha (Natasha Yarovenko), an attractive fellow tourist from Russia. Alba strikes up a conversation with Natasha, and as she's attracted to other women, Alba invites her to join her at her hotel. After some initial hesitation, Natasha agrees, and before long the two are in bed and making love. Over the next twelve hours, Alba and Natasha share stories of their lives, periodically stopping to order room service, illustrate their points with pictures on the internet and enjoy each other's bodies. Alba says her mother abandoned her family when she was a girl and she ended up as the kept woman of a wealthy Arab, while Natasha shares a story of her abusive father and her sister's career as an art historian. But are these women truly sharing the stories of their lives, or are they fabricating tales for the benefit of a stranger they may never see again? Habitacion en Roma (aka Room in Room) received its North American premiere at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elena Anaya, Natasha Yarovenko, (more)
A guy who falls for a pretty girl tries to convince her he's the right man for her, though his circumstances are a bit different than those in most romantic comedy dramas. Daniel (Pablo Pineda) is a recent college graduate who has just landed an office job -- not all that remarkable until you consider that Daniel was born with Down's Syndrome. With the help of his loving and supportive parents, Angeles (Isabel García Lorca) and Bernabe (Pedro Alvarez-Ossorio), Daniel has become the first person with Down's in Spain to get a college degree, and he's determined to live as normal a life as possible. Like most men in their early thirties, Daniel is looking for a steady girlfriend, and when sexy but awkward Laura (Lola Dueñas) stops by the office where he works in search of a job, he's immediately smitten. Laura, who has a taste for partying and tends not to keep her opinions to herself, is nonplussed by the notion of a man with Down's Syndrome asking her for a date, but Daniel doesn't give up easily, and is determined to show her that he can be as good a boyfriend as any "normal" man. But winning the heart of a woman is one skill Daniel didn't learn at school, while Laura's checkered past has left her with some major relationship issues of her own. Pablo Pineda, who plays Daniel, was in real life one of the first people in Spain with Down's Syndrome to receive a university degree, and his performance in Yo, También (aka Me, Too) earned him Best Actor honors at the 2009 San Sebastian International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lola Dueñas, Pablo Pineda, (more)
- 2007
A naïve young artist living with her father in an Ibiza cave sets out to explore life on her own terms in Sex and Lucia director Julio Medem's sensual tale of personal transformation. Ana (Manuela Vellés) is a free-spirited nymph who has only known the natural world. An ethereal, nubile woman who supports herself and her father by selling her colorful paintings at various arts and craft fairs across her scenic island, Ana is eventually discovered by a French woman named Justine (Charlotte Rampling) and lured away to art school in Madrid. Once there, Ana is confronted with a life she has never even imagined -- a life that reveals both profound love and near-unbearable pain. As she takes her first step toward womanhood, Ana gradually discovers that life is more than a geographical and linear journey; it is also temporal and cyclical as evidenced by the many lifetimes she has lived before her current existence. Eventually, in a transcendental bid to explore her many past lives, Ana turns to hypnosis. It is this journey that reveals to Ana the source of her chaos -- the hideous commonality that has followed her from her very first journey. Instilled with the wisdom of her many past experiences, Ana is propelled ever further back in time and across the continents, all the while knowing that one day the time will come for her to use the power to create life, and employ her vast knowledge for the good of all humankind. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Manuela Vellés, Charlotte Rampling, (more)
- 2003
Acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Julio Medem turns toward nonfiction to direct the documentary La Pelota Vasca: La Piel Contra la Piedra (The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone). This controversial film is a look at the complicated situation between the Basque nationalist movement and the Spanish government. Medem interviews politicians, novelists, musicians, and over 70 other commentators in his efforts to explain both sides of the complex situation in the Basque Country of Northern Spain. Contains French, Castilian Spanish, and Basque languages. The Basque Ball was shown at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for a Goya award. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- 2001
- R
Following up on his 1998 art-house hit Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Julio Medem spins this audacious film about flesh and forgetting. Lucia (Paz Vega) is a young Madrid waitress who is devastated to hear of the death of her old flame Lorenzo (Tristan Ulloa). Hoping to flee her troubles, she seeks out a beautiful island paradise her dead lover often talked about. There she meets and befriends Carlos (Daniel Freyre) and Elena (Najwa Nimri) who are also refugees of personal tragedies. Unbeknownst to all of them, the three each have a connection to Lorenzo. Years previously, Elena had a spontaneous fling with Lorenzo on the same island on the beach. Nine months later, she bore his daughter, Luna (Silvia Llanos), but unable to raise a child on her own, she enlisted the help of a nurse, Belen (Elena Anaya). In attempting to reconnect with the child he never knew, Lorenzo had a passionate affair with Belen, one which caused her to neglect Luna, with tragic results. As Lucia slowly learns these details, she recalls the book Lorenzo was writing just before his death, and soon the lines between fact and fiction begin to slip away. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paz Vega, Tristán Ulloa, (more)
- 1998
- R
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Julio Medem directed this romantic Spanish drama with location scenes in Finland. School children Ana (Sara Valiente) and Otto (Peru Medem) are brought together when a paper airplane flown from a window by Otto unites Ana's mother Olga (Maru Valdiviesio) with Otto's father Alvaro (Nancho Novo). After this encounter, Olga and Alvaro fall in love -- with the result that Alvaro leaves Otto's German mother Ula (Beate Jensen). To be near Ana, Otto begins living with Alvaro and Olga. Ana believes that Otto harbors the soul of her dead father. As adolescents, Otto (Fele Martinez) and Ana (Najwa Nimri) share a kiss over a book opened to a passage about the Arctic Circle, and they often sleep together. Otto is grief-stricken by the death of his mother -- partially due to his leaving her for Ana. Shown at 1998 film festivals (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Najwa Nimri, Fele Martínez, (more)
- 1996
Dressed in blinding white, carrying a strange pack upon his back and a toxin-spewing wand, comes exterminating Angel and his similarly clad army to the scorched, crimson earth of Aragon wine country, to destroy the insects that give the wine it's unique flavor. There Angel fines himself falling in love with a homely cuckolded wife Angela who only stays with her cheating husband for her daughter's sake. He also falls for the town's teenage tramp, the white-hot black-leather wearing Mari, who falls in love with him after one passionate night. This off-beat Spanish romance, made with a dash of cosmic pretensions, chronicles his relationships with the two women while also dealing with his strange relationship to his alter ego who may or may not be, an angel. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1995
Two young women leave their old-fashioned Spanish villages in search of wealth and adventure in this gentle drama. Both La Nina and Trini are in their early 20s. After spending time working in a resort filled with aged touristas the two end up in Madrid meeting with Marilo, La Nina's mother. Marilo and her daughter do not get along well, but the mother and Trini become fast friends. Marilo dreams of running a bar along the beach and together with La Nina, Trini, and her lover little Pepe, they all head off to the beach. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
When he sees a motorcycle go over the side of the boardwalk at San Sebastian, crashing onto the beach, Jota goes to see what happened. He discovers that the vehicle was being driven by an attractive young woman. He calls an ambulance and gets onto it with her. When the emergency medical staff discover that she has amnesia, Jota takes advantage of the situation to claim that she's been living with him for the past few years. After she gets out of the hospital, the young woman accompanies him to a camping resort called "The Red Squirrel," and they have a number of adventures involving her obnoxious husband, who has been looking for her, and an equally obnoxious campsite neighbor. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emma Suarez, Maria Barranco, (more)
- 1992
In Basque country, feuds, governments, and wars come and go, while cows placidly observe the strange behaviors of the humans who care for them. In 1875, during a massacre inspired by an out-of-control family feud, a farmer and his friend find themselves in a ditch together. One of them dies, and the other survives by playing possum using his friend's blood as a disguise. As the film flashes forward in time, the man is now a grandfather who amuses himself by painting the tranquil gaze of cows over and over again, while he observes that his son is having an affair with his dead friend's granddaughter. Finally, during the Civil War in 1936, violence again mars the life of the family, as the illegitimate son of the earlier affair attempts to make headway with his life. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emma Suarez, Carmelo Gómez, (more)
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