Luis de la Madrid Movies
- 2009
A young woman returns to the arms of her kin but encounters severe dysfunction and fracture, in this moody ensemble drama from Spain. Nausicaa Bonin stars as co-ed Lea, whose paternal grandfather dies, prompting her to return from Bordeaux, France to her childhood home in Catalan, Spain for the funeral, wake and burial. Lea's parents, Joelle (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) and Josep Maria (Eduard Fernandez) are separated, but put on airs for the sake of the familial appearances. Meanwhile, although Lea's two brothers, Pere (Ramon Fontsere) and Toni) (Francesc Orella) turn up for the funeral, her sister Virginia (Amalia Sancho) fails to show; as it turns out, she's just penned a not so subtle autobiographical novel that unearths many of the family's skeletons, to Pere's utter chagrin. Meanwhile, as the men struggle in vain to come to terms with their emotions, Joelle and Virginia contend with their exclusions from the family. This outing marked director and co-writer Mar Coll's premier feature. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nausicaa Bonnín, Eduard Fernández, (more)
- 2008
As the title implies, Christian Molina's no-prisoners erotic drama takes a head-on plunge into the complex world of a nymphomaniac. Belen Fabra stars as Val, a svelte 28-year-old young woman with an insatiable sexual appetite and a towering level of erotic curiosity, both of which propel her on to one bedroom liaison after another. She spends her days bedding countless lovers and making copulation the centerpiece of her world; in time, Val's obsessions prompt her to build a career out of prostitution and help her find legitimate love with a man. The legendary Geraldine Chaplin, daughter of Charles Chaplin and ex-romantic partner of Carlos Saura, contributes a supporting role as Abuela. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belén Fabra, Leonardo Sbaraglia, (more)
- 2008
Love and politics pull a couple in two directions at once in this historical drama. It's 1937 in Spain, and Justo (Juan Diego Botto) is a handsome, idealistic radio commentator who is married to Manuela (Maria Valverde), who loves him but doesn't share his passion for social justice. A confirmed anarchist, Justo decides to take up arms and join the battle against Franco's oppressive government, but when he's captured by government forces, Manuela loses contact with him and has no idea what's become of her husband. As the years pass, Justo is held in a variety of prisons while Spain suffers through the Civil War and World War II, while Manuela cares for her children, searches for the man she loves and tries to hold on to the hope that he will someday return. La Mujer Del Anarquista (aka The Anarchist's Wife) received its American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Fantastic Factory presents another spooky Spanish horror tale with The Nun, a pseudo-slasher ghost story that finds an evil water-nymph nun seeking vengeance against her murderers from years before. Before her disappearance, Sister Úrsula was highly feared in her boarding school. Often tormenting her students with her own brand of extreme religious zealotry, this nightmarish nun was deathly strict with her code of ethics. When one of her 15-year-old pupils is found to be pregnant, the nun forces her into a dangerous spiritual cleansing that ends in tragedy when the girl's five classmates break up the torture session and inadvertently kill Úrsula in the process. Upon the reopening of the school almost 20 years later, two of the group's survivors end up dead, which forces the rest of the old friends to face their own demons over what happened that fateful night. With the help of the now-teenaged daughter of the original student, the group confronts the very thing that haunts their dreams and forever links them together in hushed silence. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anita Briem, Belen Blanco, (more)
Brad Anderson directs the psychological thriller The Machinist, a production of Spain's Filmax company. Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a factory lathe operator who has developed a serious case of insomnia. Lack of sleep has already started to wear down on his brain and his body. When he's involved in an accident at work, his co-workers turn against him. He starts to find strange notes in his apartment and see people that apparently aren't there. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as call girl Stevie. The Machinist premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
Laura Mana's psychological thriller Killing Words concerns a test of words and wills between a serial killer and the woman he is keeping as his prisoner. Laura is tied up in the killer's basement, but he agrees to release her if she can beat him at a word game. However, if she loses, she will never leave his private dungeon. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darío Grandinetti, Goya Toledo, (more)
Directed by Jaume Balagueró, Darkness follows father and husband Mark (Iain Glen), his wife (Lena Olin), and their two children (Anna Paquin and Stephan Enquist) on their move to an outwardly quaint country home. Though the initial housewarming party is widely celebrated by neighbors, their houseguests become steadily fewer as a series of creepy happenings indicate that the house is home to more than their family. Sure enough, the lights begin to flicker incessantly on and off, while Mark's Huntington's disease makes a comeback after a ten-year dormancy. Regina (Paquin) expects that the problem stems from the house itself, but no one believes her. Determined to prove her case (particularly after mysterious noose marks begin to appear on her brother's neck), Regina decides to pay a visit to the man (Fermi Rexach) who built the house to begin with. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, (more)
An international party of astronauts crash lands on Mars. Bummer. Since rescue is, oh, 26 months away, and they only have air, food, and water for a few days, the astronauts must come to grips with the idea of dying slow and painful deaths. The captain (María Lidón) and two others explore the planet, only to make an awesome discovery. Meanwhile, Baglioni (Vincent Gallo) tries to convince the very-Catholic Jenny (Maria de Medeiros) to have sex before dying. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Gallo, Maria de Medeiros, (more)
A man goes to hell and back to avenge the death of the woman he loves in this over-the-top horror story. Troubled artist Jaspers (Mark Frost) is depressed and considering suicide after his girlfriend, an illegal alien, is killed by thugs. Before he can go through with it, Jaspers is visited by a mysterious man calling himself M (Andrew Divoff). M, which is short for Mephistopheles, is an earthly emissary of the Devil, and along with sexy Claire (Monica Van Campen) and devious Dr. Yanamoto (Junix Inocian), he leads a Satanic cult called the Hand. M and his companions persuade Jaspers to join the Hand, and soon Jaspers and other members of the Hand wreak vengeance by staging a mass murder against the men responsible for the death of Jaspers' lover. But Jaspers finds he quite likes ritual murder, and his enthusiasm leads to sloppiness that gets him arrested; he also becomes involved with Claire, which makes him very unpopular with M. As police detective Margolies (Jeffrey Combs) and psychiatrist Jade de Camp (Isabel Brook) try to get some answers about Jaspers' strange and deadly behavior, Jaspers begins to transform himself into a demonic beast in a desperate battle to defeat M before M can kill him. Faust, Love of the Damned was the first feature from the production company Fantastic Factory, formed by American filmmaker Brian Yunza and Spanish financier Julio Fernandez; the film was shot in Spain with an English-speaking cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Frost, Isabel Brooke, (more)
Guillermo del Toro, who quickly became one of the most talked-about directors in contemporary horror films with his first two features, Chronos and Mimic, takes on a more subtle tale of terror with this psychological suspense piece. Casares (Federico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes) operate a small home for orphans in a remote part of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Helping the couple mind the orphanage are Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), the groundskeeper, and Conchita (Irene Visedo), a teacher who is also involved with Jacinto. Casares and Carmen are aligned with the Republican loyalists, and are hiding a large cache of gold that's used to back the Republican treasury; perhaps not coincidentally, the orphanage has also been subject to attacks from Franco's troops, and an unexploded bomb waits to be defused in the home's courtyard. One day, a boy named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at the home, looking for a place to stay after being left behind by his parents. Casares and Carmen take him in, and the boy soon strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jaime (Inigo Garces), a boy with a reputation for tormenting other kids. But Carlos soon begins having visions of a mysterious apparition he can't identify, and hears strange stories about a child named Santi who went missing the day the bomb appeared near the orphanage. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, (more)
Spanish director Jaime Balaguero brings us this jet-black horror thriller. Claudia (Emma Vilarasau) and Marc's beloved six-year-old daughter Angela dies under mysterious circumstances. Flash forward five years, and Marc has left while Claudia wiles away her time watching family videos of happier times. Angela suddenly inexplicably calls saying, "They wanted you to believe I was dead." Claudia immediately calls an ex-cop, Massera (Karra Elejalde), to investigate the matter. To make matters worse, Claudia finds herself stalked by psychotic ex-boyfriend Toni, who simply radiates evil. As the movie progresses, Massera and Quiroga (Tristan Ulloa), a journalist who works for a magazine specializing in the occult, uncover a bizarre sadistic cult that sacrifices children. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emma Vilarasau, Karra Elejalde, (more)
