Alicia Agut Movies

Antonio Cuadri's La Gran Vida tells the story of a suicidal man who, after falling in love, decides not to end it all. Now he must survive the gangsters he owes money. If only he hadn't borrowed the money to give himself a memorable going-away trip. Salma Hayek co-stars in this film. La Gran Vida, originally released in Spanish, is presented here with a soundtrack dubbed into English. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

From Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (Live Flesh, All About My Mother) comes this offbeat drama about Leo Macías (Marisa Paredes), a romance novelist who writes her trashy tomes under the pseudonym Amanda Gris. When her marriage begins to dissolve, Leo finds herself falling into despair, leading her to drink and lose her knack for writing her tawdry tales. Out of her turmoil, she writes a bleak novel that garners no attention. To make matters worse, Ángel (Juan Echanove), a newspaper editor with a romantic interest in Leo, hires her to write a scathing review of Amanda Gris, not realizing Gris is Leo's nom de plume. Nominated for several Goya awards, La Flor de Mi Secreto also stars Carmen Elías and Rossy de Palma. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Vicente Aranda's Lovers is set in Spain, mostly in Madrid, during the 1950s. The story line is reminiscent of Theodore Dreiser's classic An American Tragedy (which was filmed as A Place in the Sun), wherein a passive, amoral, and shallow protagonist inadvertently destroys the lives of two women who love him. The handsome Paco (Jorge Sanz, who also starred in Belle Epoque and has been called "the Spanish Tom Cruise") is a young soldier involved with a virginal maid, Trini (Maribel Verdu of Y Tu Mama Tambien). Trini is saving her money and planning for their wedding, but Paco tells her not to worry, that he will find a job and save money for them. Paco leaves the army, but has trouble finding and keeping a steady job. He ends up renting a cheap room from Luisa (Spanish superstar Victoria Abril, best known for her work in Pedro Almodovar's films), a beautiful and mysterious widow. Before long, Luisa has seduced the sexually frustrated Paco, and involved him in her moneymaking scams. Trini quickly figures out what is going on, and makes a desperate effort to win back Paco's affection. Paco is obsessed with the sexually experienced and voracious older woman, but is unable to break off his long-term relationship with Trini. He attempts to string them both along, with disastrous results. The film was the first of veteran filmmaker Aranda to get a theatrical release in the United States, thanks largely to Abril's star power, and caused a minor sensation with its sexual explicitness, in particular the infamous "handkerchief scene." ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Previously filmed in 1922 with Rudolph Valentino and in 1940 with Tyrone Power, Vicente Blasco Ibanez's mystical bullfight novel Blood & Sand was given a third big-screen treatment in 1989. Though filmed in Spain by a Spanish director, the 1989 Blood & Sand casts American actor Christopher Rydell as the bullfighter hero. Also hailing from the USA is a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone, playing the vamp role previously essayed in 1922 by Nita Naldi and in 1940 by Rita Hayworth. The story remains the same: a dirt-poor youth rises to fame and fortune in the bull ring, forgets his roots, cheats on his wife, has a last-minute change of heart, and pays for his sins in grotesque fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi