Manuel Lozano Movies
Antonio Cuadri's Eres Mi Héroe (You're My Hero) stars Manuel Lozano as Ramon, a 15-year-old who is going through a rough period of growing pains while adjusting to his new school in Seville. He becomes involved with the school's disciplinary system when he chooses to fight with the boy who has been bullying him. The death of Franco ends up playing an important part in the film's conclusion. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Manuel Lozano, Toni Canto, (more)
Norberto Lopez Amado's They're Watching Us is about a cop who becomes obsessed with a case. Juan (Carmelo Gomez) is ordered to head up an investigation concerning a businessman who has been missing for almost three years. The officer who worled on the case previously now resides in a mental institution and is unable to say anything other than, "They're watching us." A priest (Roberto Alvarez) explains how a series of disappearances in the area have supernatural underpinnings. As Juan is absorbed deeper and deeper into the case, his mother is concerned for him. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmelo Gómez, Icíar Bollaín, (more)
- 2002
José Luis Garci's romantic drama Story of a Kiss follows two different stories that take place decades apart from each other. Julio (Carlos Hipolito) attends the funeral of the uncle who raised him. After reminiscing with his uncle's friends, Julio remembers his childhood. At that time, his Uncle Blas (Alfredo Landa) fell in love with a much younger women who made him realize how dispassionate his life had become. The adult Julio also attempts to romance a fellow teacher. Director Garci previously made the Oscar winner Starting Over. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfredo Landa, Ana Fernandez, (more)
- 2001
A Spanish teenager learns about love, death, and oral hygiene in this bittersweet coming-of-age story. David (Biel Duran) is a 16-year-old growing up on the poor side of Madrid. His father Rafael (Fernando Conde) earns his living as a baker, and his mother Carmen (Asuncion Planas) looks after him as well as his older sister Marta (Pilar Duque) and his little brother Lucas (Manuel Lozano). As David deals with the traditional frustrations of adolescence, he also has to come to terms with the failing health of his grandmother (Maria Galiana), who has moved in with the family as she sinks into physical and emotional decline. He also must struggle to get along with his gym teacher (Enrique San Francisco), a bitter and hateful man who can't deal with women. In the midst of all this, David falls in love with Gloria (Barbara Lennie), a beautiful girl in his class, but he can't figure out a way to get her to notice him; in time, he's so desperate to get close to her that he starts getting his teeth cleaned by her mother (Alicia Sanchez), a neighborhood dentist who tends to share her problems with her patients. Mas Pena Que Gloria was the first feature from director Victor Garcia Leon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Biel Duran, Manuel Lozano, (more)
- 2000
Set in post-Spanish Civil War 1947, this tale of spiritual renewal centers on Julia (Lydia Bosch), a writer and bank owner's daughter who becomes deeply depressed following the political incarceration of her boyfriend, painter Jose Miguel. Leaving her family's bourgeois home, Julia travels to the Asturian village of her childhood vacations, where she meets a host of people who invest her with a renewed sense of spirituality. Included among them are the sage Aunt Gala (Julia G. Caba), whose son, a Republican sympathizer, has been forced into hiding; Gala's daughter-in-law Pilara (Ana Fernandez), whose lack of social standing makes her feel awkward around Julia; Juanito (Manuel Lozano), Pilara's young son; schoolteacher Orfeo (Inaki Miramon); and priest Don Matias (Juan Diego). During the course of her time in the village, both Orfeo and Juanito fall for Julia, and their attractions take on an added weight when Julia receives news that Jose Miguel has died in prison. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lydia Bosch, Juan Diego, (more)
Veteran director Jose Luis Cuerda delivered this sensitive portrait of a child coming of age during a tense political situation just before the Spanish Civil War. On his first day of school, frail eight-year-old Moncho (Manuel Lozano) is so terrified by the imposing figure of his teacher Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernan Gomez) that he flees into the nearby woods. In spite of his authoritarian appearance, the schoolmaster proves to be a kind, free-thinking Republican who teaches Moncho the virtues of being good. The boy is soon spending much of his time with the elderly Gregorio in the Galician countryside, admiring such wonders of nature as the tongue of a butterfly. Other people in young Moncho's world include his down-to-earth mother (Uxia Blanco), his Republican father, and his older brother, who plays the saxophone with a group of local musicians. However, when the Fascists roll into town, the boy's life changes forever. La Lengua de las Mariposas was screened at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Fernán Gómez, Manuel Lozano, (more)
