Antonio Chavarrías Movies
- 2009
Director Claudia Llosa follows her award-winning feature directorial debut Madeinusa with this stark meditation on a grim period of South American history in which approximately 70,000 people were murdered between the years 1980 and 2000. Fausta (Magaly Solier) has fallen ill with a disease passed down from mother to daughter though breast milk. But Fausta's affliction isn't biological; it strictly affects Peruvian women who were raped or abused during those two terrible decades of persecution. While those days are long gone, Fausta stands as a living reminder of the horrors that once plagued her country, her malady a deep-rooted fear that stripped the young innocent of her soul. After Fausta's mother dies, the horrified girl is forced to confront her greatest fear by staring straight into the black heart of her own paranoia. Now, as Fausta sets out to discover her own path to freedom, she inserts a potato into her vagina in order to protect her body from unwanted intruders. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magaly Solier, Susi Sánchez, (more)
- 2006
A detective investigating a brutal rape and murder is drawn into the life of a suicidal woman whose husband he suspects of committing the heinous crime in director Antonio Chavarrías' tense psychological thriller. Depressed and suicidal at the end of a raucous street party, Celia attempts to take her own life by lying on the railroad tracks. When the body of a young rape victim is discovered not too far from the site where Celia attempted suicide, police inspector Miguel Ángel pays a visit to Celia and her husband, Agustín, in hopes that something they saw that night may lead to the identification of the killer. Later, when clues lead Ángel to Celia's sisters, Carmen and Ángela, the detective finally gains enough evidence to arrest Ángela's former boyfriend Pedro in connection with the crime. But something still isn't right, and as Ángel strikes up an amiable friendship with Carmen's ex-husband Jaime, he soon begins to suspect that it may in fact be Agustín who is the true killer. His judgment clouded at seeing his own mental instability reflected in the emotionally shattered Celia, Ángel soon begins to discover that beneath the suicidal girl's benign and peaceful existence there lies a horrifying, and potentially deadly, secret. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Najwa Nimri, Luis Tosar, (more)
A young woman of privilege and a man of no social status meet as a small town prepares to wallow in forbidden pleasure in this satiric drama, the first feature film from writer and director Claudia Llosa. Madeinusa (Magaly Solier) is a young woman whose father, Cayo (Ubaldo Huaman), is the mayor of a small town in the Peruvian Andes. Madeinusa is bright and attractive, but this has caused her more than a few problems; her father clearly favors her over her sister, Chale (Yiliana Chong), and since their mother ran away, Cayo has displayed an inappropriate attraction to Madeinusa. While the town strives to accept modern ways, they still embrace a strange custom that began many years ago -- on Good Friday, after acknowledging the crucifixion of Christ, the townspeople engage in a festival of decadence, with any and all sins permitted following the Savior's death until He rises again on Easter Sunday. As the Holy Day festival of Sin is about to start, Madeinusa happens to meet Salvador (Carlos De La Torre), a vagrant laborer who was passing through town when Cayo's men arrested him. For Madeinusa and Salvador, it's love at first sight, but the bizarre backdrop of the festival of sin makes it difficult for them to get to know one another. Madeinusa received its North American premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magaly Solier, Carlos De La Torre, (more)
The perfect crime goes horribly, absurdly awry in this Spanish-language tale of avarice starring Y Tu Mamá También's Diego Luna. Told in real time, Nicotina charts the different paths taken by eight characters over the course of a botched diamond heist masterminded by tech geek Lolo (Luna), Tomson (Jésus Ochoa), and El Nene (Lucas Crespi), each of whom has his own Achilles' heel when it comes to committing crime. For Lolo, it's his incessant, unrequited attraction to his neighbor Andrea (Marta Belaustegui); for El Nene, it's his overwhelming need to look cool as a neophyte gangster; and for Tomson, it's his loose-cannon demeanor that threatens to do him -- and everyone else -- in. Over the course of an hour and a half, the trio becomes intertwined with a variety of mobsters, shop owners, and not-so-innocent bystanders, each encounter bringing unexpectedly violent obstacles to securing the precious gems. Nicotina premiered in North America at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival before heading to the AFI film fest. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 2002
A Spanish/Mexican co-production, Aro Tolbukhin En La Mente Del Asesino (In the Mind of a Killer) is a semi-documentary about the life of serial killer Aro Tolbukhin. Interviews and reenactments tell the story of a Hungarian man who was sentenced to death before a firing squad in Guatemala. He grew up in Budapest with his twin sister Stella and fled to join the merchant marines during the Russian invasion of 1956. After he was arrested for burning seven people alive in 1981, he confessed to nearly 20 other murders during the Guatemala Civil War. Commentary is provided by Carmen Beato, a former nun who lived with Tolbukhin in Alta Verapaz. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Jiménez Cacho, Carmen Beato, (more)
- 2001
A death in the family brings a man back to his family and his hometown in this drama. After his brother Alex (David Recha) goes missing under hazy circumstances, Pau (David Selvas) gets the bad news that Alex has died after a successful suicide attempt. Pau travels to the village in Spain's Pyrenees mountains where he was born to break the sad news to his mother Merce (Alicia Oroxco); hoping to spare her feelings at a difficult time, he tells her that Alex was killed in an auto accident. As Merce mourns the death of her son, she and Pau set out to find Alex's friends and acquaintances and tell them of his sad fate. In their travels, they encounter Sara (Marieta Orozco), Alex's girlfriend, who planned to move away to the city with him; Emil (Luis Hostalot), an engineer who will be putting a highway through the town; Marta (Nathalie Boutefeu), Emil's daughter; and Toni (Juan Marquez), one of Emil's co-workers. Circumstances bring Pau and Marta together again when Emil disappears, and Marta finds herself searching for her father. Pau I El Seu Germa was the second feature from director Marc Recha, who won international acclaim with his debut, El Arbol De Las Cerezas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Selvas, Nathalie Boutefeu, (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)
- 1996
Gritty and realistic, this Spanish crime drama chronicles the events that led to the murder of a young Barcelona beauty. Before her brutal death, Susanna had been engaged to marry Moroccan immigrant Said. Before that, the confused recovering drug-addict had been involved with wine salesman Alex, an arrangement set up by her boss to repay a debt to him. After one night with Susanna, Alex falls passionately in love. But trouble comes when Alex gets caught embezzling, loses his job and gets a new job in a bar owned by his friends, most of whom are small-time hoods. It is about this time that Susanna agrees to marry Said and starts immersing herself in his culture. When Alex finds out, he becomes insanely jealous and asks his friend Suso to arrange for the murder of Said. But when things don't go exactly as planned, tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
