Iker Monfort Movies
Adapted from the nonfiction book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, Tom Kalin's Savage Grace recounts the true crime tale of the death of Barbara Baekeland. Stephen Dillane stars as Brooks Baekeland, the son of the man who invented Bakelite, one of the early forms of plastic. As the family fortune begins to decrease after years of wealth, Brooks marries Barbara (Julianne Moore), who desires to mingle in the highest social circles. They have a child, Antony, who is homosexual. Antony grows up to kill Barbara, in part because Barbara takes a personal interest in "curing" her son of his orientation. This was Kalin's first film since 1991's Swoon, a film about the infamous Leopold and Loeb murders. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, (more)
First-time 31-year-old director Koldo Serra's thriller The Backwoods (AKA El bosque de las sombras, 2006) re-charts thematic territory covered, in years prior, by such well-worn classics as Deliverance and Southern Comfort, and such B-grade horror pictures as Savage Island (2004). With their nuptials crumbling, a married couple from London in their early thirties, Norman (Paddy Considine) and Lucy (sensual Virginie Ledoyen of The Beach) opt to take some time out with a sojourn to northern Spain's Basque region, in the Pyrenees. They arrive at a renovated farmhouse run by Paul (Gary Oldman) and Isabel (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) and are initially able to enjoy themselves, but the trip takes a decidedly ugly turn when Paul and Norman head out on a hunting expedition and discover a malformed, feral girl (an 'enfant sauvage') in a local cabin, apparently completely neglected. They transport her from the building in a sincere and honest attempt to help her, but only succeed in drawing forth the wrath of the savage and inbred local townspeople, who quake with rage at the thought of someone absconding with one of their own. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paddy Considine, Virginie Ledoyen, (more)
A fantasy-prone transvestite who is looking to make the leap to transsexual status imagines that he is the star of a lavish universe punctuated by elaborate musical numbers in director Ramon Salazar's stylish sophomore feature. Adolfo (Monica Cervera) is a die-hard romantic who currently shares a cramped apartment with Tomas (Miguel O'Dogherty). Though he was born a man, Adolfo prefers to go by the name Marieta, and is currently stashing away the money needed to shed the male appendage that is holding him back from full womanhood. Sex change operations don't come cheap though, and in order to raise said money Marieta must first land a decent paying job. Though one successful interview does find Marieta hired as a railroad station cleaner, the exhausted worker immediately falls asleep on the job and is quickly fired for doing so. It is in his sleep that Marieta truly comes alive though, and after falling asleep during a conversation at a nearby market, the dreamland Ginger Rogers is pulled to safety by handsome stock-boy El Reponedor (Pablo Puyol). As an intensely sexual relationship begins to develop between Marieta and El Reponedor, the aspiring transsexual discovers that even if he himself doesn't appreciate his one defining male characteristic, there are others out there who most certainly do. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Cervera, Pablo Puyol, (more)
