Jorge Sanz Movies

With his gentle ensemble comedy Bienvenido a casa (aka Welcome Home), Spanish director David Trueba meditates on one man's passage from youth to the emotional maturity of adulthood. In the process, Trueba takes a wise and reflective look at the dynamics of contemporary relationships, romantic and otherwise. Alejo Sauras is Samuel, an aspiring photographer who makes the broad leap from his rural village in the Spanish countryside -- where he lives under the thumb of his domineering mother -- to the wonderland of urban Madrid. He moves in with his girlfriend, Eva (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), and accepts a position as resident photojournalist for a local culture magazine, where his eccentric colleagues include a slightly embittered, blind movie critic (with a blind guide dog), a burnt-out sports columnist, and a depressed vocalist/instrumentalist who pens the music column. Through the various employees, Trueba reveals a spectrum of attitudes toward love and romance. The remainder of the story finds Samuel teaming up with the magazine's reporter, Sandra, for an investigative story on a murder related to human trafficking. Meanwhile, Samuel begins to grapple, privately, with problems in his marital life -- specifically, how to preserve the love, romance, and devotion he feels for Eva (and she for him). Samuel's watchful mother cautions him not to repeat the same mistakes that she once made -- but the past comes back to haunt Samuel in the guise of a fateful encounter with a childhood friend, Nieves. Then, suddenly, Eva announces her pregnancy. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

When the paths of two couples attempting to salvage what's left of their failing relationships cross, the effects of the fateful meeting reverberates throughout the rest of their lives in director Pedro Olea's affecting and humanistic relationship drama. The scene is a popular restaurant, and as Elena (Maribel Verdú) and Chus (Jorge Sanz) argue shamelessly while dining with a group of friends, Oscar (Darío Grandinetti) and Sara (Maria Barranco) make one desperate final attempt to work out their many marital discrepancies. Upon crossing paths later that evening, all four find that a temporary solution to their problems is enough for their relationships to weather the emotional storm for the time being. Years later, in the emergency room of a local hospital, the two couples' paths cross once again as Elena and Chus celebrate the birth of their son while lamenting the growing emotional divide that keeps them from truly connecting. Though an unspeakable tragedy has befallen Oscar and Sara, Sara and Chus develop a supportive friendship that helps to guide them through the darkness as Elena and Oscar cross the boundary from friendship into something far more intimate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Someone in a black minstrel suit is killing all of the flunky students at a university in Salamanca, Spain, and it's up to a new student, Alex (Silke), to piece the puzzle together before the next post-exam death. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Actors and egos are lampooned in this witty satire written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Joaquin Oristrell. Isabel (Veronica Forque) is a popular acting teacher running a school in Madrid. One day, she runs across a script written by famed film director Mario Fabra (Daniel Jimenez Cacho). As she reads it, she realizes that the script is about a brief but unforgettable fling she had with the filmmaker 21 years previous. She promptly calls up Mario and arranges lunch. Their reunion is nervous and awkward as if their ardor has not cooled one whit in spite of the fact that each is involved with someone else -- Isabel is dating a younger acting coach named Alberto (Jorge Sanz) while Mario is with a beautiful though neurotic TV star named Cecilia (Candela Pena). For his latest film, Mario is looking for fresh faces and asks Isabel to line up some of her better students for an audition. Soon everyone in the school is preparing scenes from theater's canon of masterpieces, from Hamlet to Oedipus. In the process, actors clash and egos inflate. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Veteran Spanish film star Fernando Fernan-Gomez plays, appropriately enough, a veteran actor looking back on his career and wondering what his relatively short future will hold. Don Agustin is a 65-year-old actor travelling to Madrid to perform his one-man show Pepe Guindo, in which he chronicles the life of a jazz musician. Don arrives at the theater, gets into costume with the help of his dresser (Veronica Forque), confers with the director and writer (Jose Maria Pau and Pepon Nieto), and greets the musicians who play his band before going into the evening's performance, which comprises the bulk of the film. As "Pepe Guindo" discusses the life of a performer, and the rewards it has brought him at the expense of his relationships with his family, the actor and his character begin to merge, and Don and Pepe both conclude the evening wondering how much longer they can face an audience while holding on to some shred of their dignity. Fernando Fernan-Gomez was 78 when he made this film, and while the film itself received mixed reviews, his performance was widely praised. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Antonio del Real directed this Spanish romantic comedy focusing on ad-agency career girl Lucia (Ana Alvarez) and her best friend, dance teacher Maria (Maria Adanez). Maria's boyfriend is the sexist Pablo (Jorge Sanz). One night Lucia puts away too much alcohol, sleeps with Pablo, and hatches a plan to have Pablo all to herself by finding a new man for Maria. She chooses unemployed actor Antonio (Eduardo Noriega), a handsome guy but not too bright. Since Antonio's brain in Spain is mainly on the wane, Lucia is forced to do a My Fair Lady upgrade on the raw material -- by educating Antonio during several Pygmalion-styled sessions. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

An IRA volunteer tries to leave his life of violence behind -- only to discover it's waiting for him in America -- in this drama based on a story by leading man Stephen Rea. Dowd (Rea) is a convicted terrorist with the Irish Republican Army who is serving a sentence in a prison in Northern Ireland. While his girlfriend Roisin (Maria Doyle Kennedy) patiently waits for his release, Dowd feels that he has no real future to offer her; the path he's chosen in life is not an easy one to move away from. After a visit from Roisin, Dowd is returning to his cell when he finds himself in the middle of a group of prisoners attempting an escape; Dowd impulsively joins them and turns out to be one of only two convicts to make it out alive. With forged papers, Dowd sneaks into the United States, where he takes a job as a dishwasher and lives in a dingy welfare hotel in Manhattan. While trying to mediate a domestic dispute among his neighbors, Dowd is stabbed in the back; a group of Guatemalan exiles who share an apartment in the building, led by Tulio (Alfred Molina), come to Dowd's rescue and treat his wounds. Dowd becomes friends with Tulio, his friend Paco (Jorge Sanz), and his daughter Monica (Rosana Pastor), and in time, he learns why they've come to the United States. The CIA operative who tortured and killed Tulio's father now lives in New York City, and they have come to assassinate him. However, Tulio and Paco have no experience in political violence, and no talent for it; Dowd soon finds himself drawn into their plan as he helps them organize a serious attempt on the CIA man's life, a situation that becomes all the more complicated when he finds himself falling in love with the beautiful Monica. The supporting cast includes Pruitt Taylor Vince, Paul Giamatti, Brendan Gleeson, and Coati Mundi, a former member of the adventurous R&B group Kid Creole & the Coconuts. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This big-budget Spanish drama pays tribute to the courageous women who sacrificed their lives during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Maria's peaceful life as a nun is shattered when revolutionary anarchists force her and her sisters to flee their convent sanctuary. Maria ends up hiding in a brothel where she meets the good-hearted whore Charo. Their peace is in turn destroyed by the sudden arrival of Pilar, a passionate, idealistic member of the Free Women organization. Her fiery speeches and strong arm tactics compel the hookers and Maria to join their fight. A handsome ex-priest also joins them as they fight with the anarchists in Zaragoza. Following a small victory, the formerly trench-bound, battle-weary women celebrate, but then Maria finds herself faced with the destruction and death that goes with war. Later the former priest informs the women that they will not be allowed to fight upon the front lines and the women are left with broken ideals and angry hearts that lead them into one last, violent battle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two wild-living sex workers have to disguise themselves as pillars of the community for the sake of their families in this outrageous comedy from Spain. Gloria (Veronica Forque) is an exotic dancer, who, to her initial dismay, is given a new performing partner at the club where she works -- Manu (Jorge Sanz), a handsome young man, who, unfortunately, has precious little dancing experience. Manu comes from a prominent and respectable family, but thinks dancing would be fun, and a simple way to make some money. Despite a rocky start, Gloria and Manu get to be good friends, and he responds well when she shows him the ropes of their new routines. Eventually, Gloria and Manu end up sharing a flat, but when Manu's parents announce they're going to pay a visit, he and Gloria have to transform themselves from a pair of libertines into a normal middle-class couple practically overnight. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this road movie, a young Spanish teen has formed a band which has been booked to play at the Hilton in Beirut. The group is well versed in mambo and pop classics. When the age-diverse group sets out on its tour, however, they find that they cannot get farther than Cairo and Amman, Jordan. The boy has a stormy relationship with his father and the band's manager, and their being stuck in musical limbo in fleabag hotels doesn't help that much. The group's charismatic trumpet player, a particular hero of the boy's, walks out on the group after getting his fill of drinking and whoring for low pay. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This complex and confusing Spanish feature intercuts stories from 1936, 1940, 1970 and 1988, and has Victoria Abril play three different parts in them. The lives of many people are shown to be tangled together in nearly incomprehensible ways, and many of the characters are prone to engage in unsavory sexual acts involving fetishism and sadomasochism. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In a story with a good premise, a man who has been hiding in a cave for 40 years decides he is finally ready to come out and re-integrate himself into village life. He went into hiding to escape the harsh rule of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco. After Franco dies in 1975, the cave-dweller feels it's safe to emerge, though he is not at all prepared for modern Spain. Meanwhile, friends inform his wife that she may no longer be eligible for a pension because her husband is alive while others wonder if he really is her husband. These considerations are almost enough to drive the man back into the cave again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide