Jose Maria Lara Movies

One man finds himself pulled in three directions at once by his family and a chance acquaintance in this breakneck comedy. Miguel (Jacques Gamblin) is a single parent and Spanish expatriate living in Belgium who has to deal with a young daughter, Laura (Raphaelle Molinier), his busybody mother, Abuelita (Carmen Maura), and his pushy brother, Juan (Pedro Romero). Miguel works for Juan's travel agency as a courier and errand boy. Shortly after sending Laura off to school, Juan gets an urgent call from Miguel and he has to head to the airport. En route, Miguel gets caught in a traffic jam and encounters Sonia (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), an illegal alien from the Ukraine who is on the run from police after being freed from custody by a group of activists. Sonia has been searching for her boyfriend who disappeared in Belgium a year ago, and after much haranguing Miguel agrees to help her, but that's before he gets word from Abuelita that an accident has sent his daughter to the hospital. Fortunately Laura's injuries are minor, but once Laura and Abuelita hear Sonia's story, they decide to drop everything to help her find her man with Miguel along for the ride, regardless of Juan's feelings about the matter (or Miguel's, for that matter). 25 Degres en Hiver was the first feature film from writer and director Stéphane Vuillet. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An analyst hits the road -- both to answer her emotional needs and to beat the rent -- in this quirky comedy-drama. Dr. Rebecca Kaplan (Leonor Benedetto) is a psychiatrist who left behind an unpleasant past in Buenos Aires to come to America and set up a practice in New York City. Over the course of two decades, Dr.Kaplan has established a loyal if somewhat eccentric clientele in the Big Apple's multiethnic boroughs, but when a new landlord takes over the building where she keeps her office, she's informed that her rent will be increased -- by 2,000 percent. Unwilling to pay the punishing tariff, Dr. Kaplan comes up with a better idea. With the help of Mike (Santiago Douglas), the doctor moves her practice to a mobile home, with Mike driving and checking in patients while she interviews her clients in the back. Dr. Kaplan's new mobile office only improves her practice, but in time she decides it's time to go back to Argentina to pay a visit and take care of some old business that's been troubling her. While directed by Chilean filmmaker Cecilia Barriga and produced by a Spanish concern, Time's Up was primarily filmed on location in New York City, using digital video equipment to stretch the independent production's lean budget. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this rather old-fashioned Spanish comedy, the first directorial effort of actor Ramon Barea, a band of misfit nuns become trapped between an ideological war between sisters slavishly devoted to the old ways and those wanting to enter the 20th century, and they attempt to escape their aging convent by digging an elaborate tunnel. The traditionalists are led by the vice-prioress, who has been charged for guarding the preserved corpse of the convent's founder, while the modernists rally around the progress-oriented, computer-savvy prioress. The would-be escapees include Sister Rufina, who really wants to be a priest, Sister Asun, who undergoes a hysterical pregnancy and childbirth; Sister Remedios, who believes her beloved statue of Christ to be alive, and the ditzy innocent Sistar Rosarito. Pecata Minuta aired in the "Open Zone" category of the 1998 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Featuring plenty of two-fisted action with romantic and political overtones, this intelligent thriller from Spanish director Daniel Calparsoro is set in the Basque region of northernmost Spain and centers on the clash between two Basque terrorists whose relationship becomes strained when the female starts refusing to kill their enemies. Unfortunately, for someone like her, leaving terrorism can be as dangerous as remaining in the fray. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this comedy, Yon (Jorge de Juan) is one of four college students, friends, who are not above using extraordinary means to pass their exams. For instance, not long ago one of them pretended to have a head wound so that he could conceal a radio transmitter in the bandages and give his pals a detailed preview of the exam he was taking. So it's only natural that such hardworking boys would be upset when one of their number learns that he has flunked his final exams. Yon's response was to write a very strongly worded anonymous letter of protest to his professor and post it in a bright yellow mailbox. Afterwards, he realizes with panic that he has inadvertently included the letter from the school informing him of his results in the exam, giving his identity away. Enlisting the help of his friends, they steal the offending mailbox in order to recover the letter. Unfortunately, their girlfriends aren't in on the game, and don't understand what they're up to, posing several delicious obstacles to a quick resolution of Yon's difficulties. It also doesn't help that a drug dealer has been using that same mailbox for drop shipments, and has been keeping an eye on it. When he sees the boys steal it, he doesn't immediately assume that anything good is happening. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi