Ivan Massague
- 2008
Three guys who've devoted their lives to doing nothing discover it's not as easy as it used to be in this independent comedy from Spain. Grabi (Ivan Massague), Nandi (Dario Paso) and Roberto Carlos (Juanfra Juarez) are three thirty-something layabouts who still live with their parents, avoid gainful employment and devote their days to drinking beer and sharing whatever thoughts they have with one another. Robert Carlos is engaged in a lackadaisical romance with shop manager Mercedes (Mercedes Hoyos) until he meets the prettier but moody Sunci (Pilar Crespo). Grabi has a sister (Ana Cuesta) who is dating a neighborhood bully named Kevin Manuel (Jesus Carroza); Garbi doesn't care for Kevin and tries to break up their relationship, only to incur Kevin's considerable wrath. And while Nandi's friends are busy with women and musclemen, he strikes up a friendship with a lonely kid who lives nearby, Isabel (Isabel Ampudia). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivan Massague, Dario Paso, (more)
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the phantasmagorical cinema that defined such early fare as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone with this haunting fantasy-drama set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and detailing the strange journeys of an imaginative young girl who may be the mythical princess of an underground kingdom. Her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), recently remarried to sadistic army captain Vidal (Sergi López) and soon to bear the cruel military man's child, shy young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is forced to entertain herself as her recently-formed family settles into their new home nestled deep in the Spanish countryside. As Ofelia's bed-ridden mother lies immobilized in anticipation of her forthcoming child and her high-ranking stepfather remains determined to fulfill the orders of General Francisco Franco to crush a nearby guerilla uprising, the young girl soon ventures into an elaborate stone labyrinth presided over by the mythical faun Pan (Doug Jones). Convinced by Pan that she is the lost princess of legend and that in order to return to her underground home she must complete a trio of life-threatening tasks, Ofelia sets out to reclaim her kingdom and return to her grieving father as Vidal's housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) and doctor (Alex Angulo) plot secretly on the surface to keep the revolution alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, (more)
