Francisco Rabal

Three young people are forced to examine their personal and political ideals in this drama. In 1975, Victor (Andoni Gracia) is a young man in his early twenties; while he and his family are originally from Portugal, they emigrated to Paris when Victor's parents decided they could no longer tolerate the nation's Fascist rule. When Socialist factions overthrow Portugal's Fascist government, Victor is eager to celebrate the new freedoms in his homeland, convincing his close friend Marco (Adriano Giannini) to join him for a road trip to Lisbon. Tagging along for the ride is Claire (Gwenaelle Simon), Victor's former girlfriend, who is now married but still hangs out with him. As the three cover the miles to Lisbon in a beat-up Citroen 2CV, boredom leads to tension and anxiety among the three, which isn't eased when Victor discovers Marco once seduced Claire during the time they were still involved. Victor, Marco, and Claire eventually make it to Lisbon, where they meet up with Victor's Uncle Enrique (Francisco Rabal), but the visitors discover the fall of fascism hasn't brought the overnight changes they expected. Alla Rivoluzione Sulla Due Cavalli won the Golden Leopard award at the 2001 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The nightmares of Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden), a successful businessman, are haunted by a mermaid that neither he nor his beautiful girlfriend, Barbara (Raquel Merono), can figure out. While on a boating vacation off the Spanish shore, a sudden storm sends their sailboat crashing into the rocks, causing Paul and Barbara to paddle to the nearby fishing village for help. But the village is inhabited by a race of people who are half-human/half-fish, and the time has come for them to sacrifice humans to their monstrous leader, Dagon. Not only that, but Paul's nightmares become horrifying reality when he encounters beautiful and passionate Uxia (Macarena Gomez), the mermaid of his visions, and boy does she have a surprise for him besides the double tentacles under her skirt. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

The seamy underside of drug dealing in Spain is explored in this Spanish drama. Thirteen-year-old Milio (Alberto Escobar) and his older brother Luis (Fele Martinez) run drugs in Madrid for wholesaler Don Vicente (Francisco Rabal). While their mother (Geraldine Chaplin) disapproves of their business, Luis tries to watch out for his little brother and shield him from the most dangerous side of the dope traffic. When one of their partners is killed, Luis becomes wary of the drug trade, and his girlfriend Sira (Silke) urges him to get out of the business while he still can. But Milio doesn't want to quit, and Luis isn't sure which way he should turn, especially after Don Vincente urges him to stay. Sira then tries to force Luis' hand by going out with another of Don Vicente's soldiers. The debut feature from Saura Medrano (son of the great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura), Just Run! had its world premier at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two weeks before her wedding, Maria Joao (Beatriz Batarda) is spoiled, hung over, possibly pregnant, and unwilling to exchange her party girl ways for her impending marriage. So, with the objections of her father (Luis Miguel Cintra) and the encouragement of her idiosyncratic Uncle Nini (Francisco Rabal), she leaves her family's estate, on a mission to return a large boat and trailer to her fiancé, who lives in Spain. With the help of Gabriel (Marcello Urgeghe), her father's godson, she drives a large rig across the Iberian plains, visiting her estranged brother Ze Maria (Ricardo Aibeo) in Cordoba along the way and dallying in sexual hijinks to boot. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Carlos Saura, one of the finest and most distinctive filmmakers in the Spanish cinema, wrote and directed this biographical epic concerning one of Spain's greatest artists, the painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. On his deathbed, Goya (Francisco Rabal), attended by his mistress, Leocadia (Eulalia Ramon) and their daughter, Rosario (Dafne Fernandez), is plagued by hallucinations and frequent visions of the beautiful Cayetana (Maribel Verdu) as his mind reels through the events of his life. As a young man, Goya (played in his younger days by Jose Coronado) became the court painter to King Charles and the Royal Family, where he created technically skillful but uninteresting portraits and was invited to a number of royal functions. At one such affair, Goya first met Cayetana, the Duchess of Alba, and he was immediately smitten; they became lovers, and she was both the subject and inspiration of several major works, including "Desnuda" and "La Maja Vestida." Goya's work developed a dark undercurrent after Napoleon invaded Spain and he took up with Leocadia, creating disturbing images that alienated his patrons and frightened his children. In time, the decline of the court and a changing political climate forced Goya to seek exile in France in 1824, where he would die four years later. Goya In Bordeaux was a project that Saura had dreamed of filming for years, and he was ably assisted in recreating the look of Goya's paintings by master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Norwegian Bent Hamer earned himself quite a bit of fame with his first feature, Eggs. Carrying on the burlesque style of the first film, he tells the story of Almar, a young Norwegian sailor whose gold watch, of great sentimental value, has been broken. While waiting for repairs in a remote Spanish town, he meets a number of unusual characters: Windy, an Australian seafarer with unusual experiences, real or imaginary; Marta, a beautiful Spanish girl; Martha's bizarre grandfather; and two old watchmakers who are painfully methodical. It seems to Almar that real time has also stopped when his watch did. En Dag Til I Solen is an offbeat comedy which is highly entertaining. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

The third feature from popular Spanish filmmaker Juanma Bajo Ulloa is a sprawling and complex action comedy with a touch of Almodovar-esque surrealistic absurdity that simultaneously satirizes gangster movies, film noir, and the Catholic Church. Juantxo is the chief protagonist. Coming from a bourgeois family, he has had all the opportunities to fulfill his father's wishes by obtaining a university degree, getting a high-paying job and making a place for himself in high society. The trouble is, Juantxo is a socially awkward idiot and a mamma's boy. He is, however, engaged to a rich and beautiful woman. A few days before his wedding, Juantxo's buddies Konradin and Paco persuade him to go out for a final night of oat-sowing. They are not long at the stag party when Juantxo falls for an exotic prostitute. Unfortunately he loses his fiancee's expensive engagement ring while messing with the hooker. Later, this valuable ring is discovered by Villambrosa, a gangster/pimp/international drug runner. His enemy Souza finds out about the ring and sends his sexy moll Fatima do Espirito Santo, a new age girl who can levitate, to investigate the situation. Meanwhile, Juantxo and friends frantically search for the ring. They have three days to find it and their journey takes them on a riotous road trip that leads them into the depths of the Mafia underworld. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Antonio Simon and writer Lino Braxe based this period mystery on a '40s screenplay by Luis Buñuel and Jose Rubia Braxe. In northern Spain, Wenceslao Corredoira (Francisco Rabal) negotiates property at Galicia with engineer Oscar Marsal (Nancho Novo). Wenceslao's sister is a bitter widow (Esperanza Roy) who lives in the estate's Gothic mansion, with the usual household of reclusive residents lurking about amid high strangeness, rainstorms, lightning, mysterious harp music, and sex in the stables. Flashbacks reveal the sister's history, and Oscar sets out to find the answer to the house's enigmatic events. Shown at the 1997 Valladolid film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

One might consider this violent adaptation of the classical Greek tragedy as Sophocles with a South American twist. Set amidst the rebel wars (representing the Theban plagues) of contemporary Colombia, Mayor Edipo (Oedipus) must mediate a peace deal between conflicting guerrilla groups and the army. It is raining when he leaves. His journey is interrupted when he gets into a shoot out on a lonely bridge. Returning fire, Edipo somehow escapes. As soon as he gets to town he hears that a prominent leader, Layo was brutally slain. No one knows who shot him. Meanwhile a blind seer wanders town making dire prophecies concerning Edipo's future. It is he who tells the mayor that Layo was murdered by a family member. Edipo's fate is sealed when he gets involved with the beautiful and much older Yocasta, a woman who last had sex thirty years before with her husband Layo. She got pregnant and bore a son... Tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Some people would say that Mario is a Basque terrorist, but he would probably say that he is simply a fervent activist on behalf of the Basque nationalist movement. In either case, he occasionally blows things up with the intention of destabilizing things where he lives. Some of these "activists" hang out at a bar called the White Dove, and the owner's daughter has begun forging relationships with them. Eventually a bomb blows up the bar and its apolitical owner, who knows too much for someone not deeply committed to the cause ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

An old man (Francisco Rabal) living in a Greek seaside village is enjoying a walk and the magnificent scenery when he strikes up a conversation with a young man looking out of his hotel room. At that moment, an earthquake demolishes the hotel, and when the authorities arrive, they are prepared to write everyone in it off as having been killed. The old man is not prepared to do that, and his stubborn unwillingness to accept that leads to their searching for, and finding, the younger man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide