Tejada Enrique Villen Movies
- 2006
Fernando Guillen-Cuervo's comic road movie Los Managers (AKA The Managers, 2006) concerns Maca and Rena, two down-and-out hipsters who opt to fight unemployment by managing the singers David and Pipo in a televised vocal competition, and then coaching the men onto successful musical careers. The performers - promoted as Los Reyes del King - go on to play a series of low-class, sleazy dives, including pool halls, bingo palaces and bordellos. But then, La Rota turns up - a mysterious stranger who pays Maca, Rena, Pipo and David to mount a tour of the Costa del Sol. Thus begins a frenetic, picaresque odyssey, with the men encountering a series of eccentric and colorful characters on the road - everyone from adult movie starlets to nutty-as-hell marines to Tom Jones impersonators to extraterrestrials. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tejada Enrique Villen, Manuel Tallafé, (more)
A playboy has the tables turned on him when he finds himself being used as a plaything by an undesirable woman in this black comedy from Spain. Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) is a self-styled ladies' man working at an upscale department store in Madrid. Rafael thinks of himself as suave and sophisticated, and he has two goals -- to run the store's apparel department, and to seduce every woman he works with. Well, every woman except for one -- Lourdes (Monica Cervera), a homely sales clerk who obviously has a crush on Rafael, but is too nervous to talk to him. Rafael's primary rival for control of the clothing department is Don Antonio (Luis Varela), and Rafael becomes filled with rage when he learns that Don Antonio has been given the job he's worked so hard to attain. Rafael gets into an argument with Don Antonio after hearing the news, and in the midst of the quarrel Don Antonio drops dead. Rafael discovers to his horror that there was a witness to Don Antonio's sudden demise -- Lourdes, who is no longer acting quite so meek. Realizing she has Rafael in a tight spot, Lourdes informs him that in exchange for her silence and help disposing of the body, he must become her lover, and it isn't long before Rafael begins to buckle under the strain of serving as her sexual slave. El Crimen Perfecto (aka The Perfect Crime) was originally released under the punning title El Crimen Ferpecto (aka The Ferpect Crime). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Toledo, Monica Cervera, (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)
Set in the Spanish port city of Vigo, Fernando León de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun is a touching drama about a group of working-class men who find themselves suddenly unemployed and unwanted in their middle age. Laid off from the local shipyard, the men spend their days at the town bar, where they reminisce, philosophize, and commiserate about their current state. Gruff Santa (a bearded Javier Bardem) puts up a tough front, refusing to sink into self-pity, and occasionally pricking his friends' hopes. Morose José (Luis Tosar) openly worries about his wife, whom he fears might leave him. That seems to have been the fate of Amador (Celso Bugallo), the oldest of the bunch, who keeps reassuring everyone that his wife will be back any day now from her trip. Meanwhile, Lino (José Ángel Egido) refuses to give up hope of employment, going to interview after interview for jobs being offered to applicants half his age. Presiding over the glum bunch is Rico (Joaquín Climent), the bar owner and the men's co-worker from the shipyard days. Despite its depressing subject and downbeat mood, Mondays in the Sun was a big winner at the 2003 Goya Awards, Spain's equivalent of the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Bardem. The film was also Spain's surprise representative for the 2003 Oscars' Foreign Language film category, nabbing the distinction over Pedro Almodóvar's critically lauded Talk to Her. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Javier Bardem, Luis Tosar, (more)
The fifth feature of noted Spanish filmmaker Alex de la Iglesia, La Comunidad is a frenetic black comedy set in a decrepit old house in the center of Madrid. One of the house's new residents is Julia Garcia (Carmen Maura, whose performance won her a best actress award at the 2000 San Sebastian Film Festival), a real estate agent who has taken an apartment to revive her sagging marriage. One day, while engaging in some bedroom bliss, Julia and her unemployed husband Ricardo (Jesus Bonilla) are attacked by cockroaches that rain down on them through a crack in the ceiling. During a subsequent investigation of the upstairs apartment, firemen discover a man's rotting corpse. Julia later conducts her own investigation of the apartment and discovers almost 15 million dollars hidden away under the floor boards -- the result of a soccer-pool win by the apartment's dead owner. She decides to take the winnings and run, but while removing the cash, meets her neighbor Ramona (Terele Pavez), who quickly becomes suspicious of Julia's activities. It turns out that everyone in the building knew about the money and agreed to share it amongst themselves, a plan severely compromised by Julia's desire to keep the money for herself. After inviting Julia to a welcome party held by the residents' association, her neighbors go to extreme lengths to get the money, and plenty of cartoon-colored murder and mayhem ensues. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Eduardo Antuna, (more)
Following his award-winning Familia (1997), 30-year-old writer-director Fernando Leon de Aranoa set this Spanish drama in Madrid's grim working-class fringe neighborhood. Caught in the concrete jungle, 15-year-old friends Rai (Crispulo Cabezas), Manu (Eloi Yebra), and Javi (Timy) pass the summer dreaming of girls and sandy beaches. Javi is surprised by the sexual interest of his pals in his sister Susi (Marieta Orozco). Minus a vehicle, Manu struggles to keep his pizza delivery job. Entering a contest for an exotic vacation, Rai instead wins a jet ski -- which is stolen before he manages to profit by selling it. Manu and his father (Francisco Algora) lie about Manu's absent junkie brother, while Javi's mother (Alicia Sanchez) gets a court restraint to deal with Javi's violent father (Enrique Villen). The film features a soundtrack of Spanish rap and rock. At the 1998 San Sebastian Film Festival, Leon de Aranoa received a "Best Director" award plus two other awards for screenwriting. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cruspulo Cabezas, Timy, (more)
