Concha Velasco Movies
Santiago Segura and Jésus Bonila headline this madcap Spanish-language ensemble comedy, as Iñigo andPapeles, two klutzy ne'er-do-wells who hear rumors about a Russian gold shipment that failed to reach its destination. The men immediately decide to make good on the legend by finding and claiming the treasure, but in the process, several nutty misfits also learn of the gold, and join the treasure hunt uninvited, one-by-one - leading to one zany shenanigan and crazy detour after another. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Santiago Segura, Jesus Bonilla, (more)
The Argentinean drama The Lost Steps takes a fictionalized look at actual crimes committed by the government. The main character is a young woman who learns she may have been taken away from her birth parents just after she was born. Her story starts to come out after she meets a man who claims to be her actual grandfather. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Visedo
Located in Madrid's Plaza del Sol, Km. 0 is the point from which all distances in Spain are measured from the capital. In Km. 0, it is also the meeting point for a gallery of characters. Bored, affluent housewife Marga (Concha Velasco) meets up with gigolo Miguel (Jesus Cabrero), who co-habitates with gay Benjamin (Miquel Garcia). Sergio, a soon-to-be-married office clerk who can't wait to lose his virginity, makes the acquaintance of prostitute Tatiana (Elisa Matilla), while gay dancer Bruno (Victor Ullate Jr.) meets Maximo (Armando delRio). Meanwhile, wannabe director Pedro (Carlos Fuentes) arranges to meet up with Silvia (Merce Pons), an actress who wants to work in musicals directed by Gerardo (George Corraface), and bartender Mario (Tristan Ulloa) is caught between Amor (Silke), who wants to marry him, and her little sister Roma (Cora Tiedra), who is truly in love with him. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Concha Velasco, Georges Corraface, (more)
- 1999
Veteran Spanish director Luis Garcia Berlanga created this anarchic black comedy about sexual impotence and millennial anxiety. Though a Paris-based plastic surgeon spends much of his time and wealth on prostitutes, he is plagued by impotence. Despondent, he plans to commit suicide. After happening upon a bike with "Paris-Timbuktu" painted on it, he decides to bike from France to Africa and kill himself there on New Year's Eve. But when his plans are thwarted in Spain by a painful boil on his bottom, he is forced to room with a pair of sisters in a remote village. Through them, he finds himself increasingly immersed in the local community, populated by the likes of a clergyman suspected of murder, a nudist garage mechanic, and a bizarre champion cyclist. Paris-Timbuktu was screened at the 1999 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Concha Velasco, (more)
- 1997
Based on a popular novel by Spanish author Antonio Gala, this romantic melodrama centers on the struggles on a Seville rancher's dissatisfied wife. Poor Palmira; her husband Willy has not slept with her in ages, her teenaged son is sexually confused, her sister a lesbian, and her daughter is seeing a man on the sly. Matters worsen when Palmira finds out that her husband is having an affair, that her daughter is pregnant with a hemophiliac child and her son has died in a motorcycle accident. If that weren't enough, she learns of his homosexuality shortly after the funeral from his bisexual best friend, the one with whom Palmira had a brief affair. Overwhelmed, Palmira leaves the family to search for herself and for her long-lost first love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
After the death of Carlos II in 1700, the throne of Spain was up for grabs, and all the European powers got involved. Even after the next king was crowned, anarchy and poverty marred the lives of the Spanish for many years. Finally, Carlos III, attempted to bring significant reforms with the assistance of his minister, the Marques de Esquilache. This film, based on the play Un Sonador Para Un Pueblo by Antonio Buero Vallejo, portrays the struggles of Esquilache (Fernando Fernan Gomez) to implement his monarch's vision for Spain. Despite touching on many issues in Spanish history, it's really more of a character study of the title character. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ángela Molina
- 1985
An accomplished and "enchanting" fantasy-romance, this story of a couple's love for each other and a pixie's benevolent intervention in their lives is entertaining from beginning to end. Cesar (Francisco Rabal) is a fake sorcerer and travels with his wife Pilar (Concha Velasco) in a combination bus and house, performing magic shows for the public. One time when they are stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere, a young woman named Saga (Victoria Abril) helps them get out and back on the road again. It soon becomes clear by her actions that Saga is a friendly pixie-witch. She and her warlock cohort cause Cesar's fake magic to really work -- and that is just the beginning. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francisco Rabal, Concha Velasco, (more)
- 1982
Based on a 1943 book of the same title by Camilo José Cela, Colmena features the comings and goings of a wide variety of characters, all trying to survive in a poverty-stricken Madrid during World War II. Rather than feature any single story line, these people from all walks of life cross paths almost randomly as they come to a café to sip their one cup of coffee and work on a book, or pick up a prostitute, or get their shoes shined, or play billiards, or just warm themselves on a cold winter's day. This primary setting is complemented by a brothel where a dirt-poor journalist sleeps if there is a room available that night, while during the day he tries to make ends meet one way or another. The demeanor of the people in the café or in the brothel effectively conveys the atmosphere of a long-lost era that may have had hardships but also brought a subtle sense of camaraderie to very disparate human beings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Ana Belén, (more)
- 1980
The title of this comedy refers to a section of Madrid known for its posh restaurants. When a German chef chops off his wife's head with a meat cleaver on the last night before the business closes for the season, the owner takes pity on the chef's only child and hides the high-school student in his home. The boy leaves with his pretty math tutor after impregnating his own godmother. The owner throws a lavish dance to end the season, as the chef appears throughout the film seemingly unmolested by the justice system. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Concha Velasco, Jose Sazatornil, (more)
- 1978
Married to a writer whom she finds phony to such an extreme that all men become repulsive to her, Anna confides her concerns to her best friend, Paula, who is also unhappy in her marriage. They cannot see any way to make progress in their lives. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Concha Velasco, Ana Belén, (more)
- 1976
Selling books is not quite remunerative enough for the young lady in this film. As a second job, she works as a "paid escort," satisfying men's sexual urges at locations of their choosing. On one such job she meets a house-robber, who pretends to be her client and the owner of the flat she is visiting. The truth finally comes out, and they become allies. The man is sent to prison for a time, but after he returns, he joins her at bookselling, and she uses the information gleaned from her prostitution to help him with his second job, which is robbery. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Concha Velasco, Patxi Andion, (more)
- 1976
Set near Barcelona at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, this epic drama explores the adventures suffered by an uncommitted vacationing family caught unawares by the conflict. In focusing on the war's effects on the family, this film was able to offer much more devastating commentary than would normally have been permitted in the late Franco era. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Concha Velasco, Ismael Merlo, (more)
- 1975
Even during the Second World War, some Spanish anti-Nazis worked to sabotage the Germans operating in their supposedly neutral country. This drama explores the love between a showgirl and a younger man who has been such a guerilla. She is also the mistress of a local black-market gangster, and tragedy results when her duplicity is discovered. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1974
When an elderly relative (Francisco Rabal) who has made a fortune in the Americas returns to Spain for a visit with his relatives, the mother (Conchita Velasco) of a bevy of daughters feels certain that at least one of them can snare him for a secure future. Imagine her frustration, then, when the old fellow falls in love with the family's servant girl (Ana Belen). Not only is she haplessly preventing the family's daughters from snaring a mate, the servant has been having an affair with a priest which was not good for anyone. In the end, the old man's love prevails, the conscience-ridden priest is freed of his entanglement, and the newly married couple move out of the country. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This Spanish-language detective story investigates the death of a lovely young woman (Conchita Velasco). The film begins with the discovery of her body on a beach in southern Spain. A vagrant tinker (Fernando Fernan Gomez) who is implicated in her death investigates it alongside the police. Also suspected are a local fisherman (Alfredo Mayo) and his son, whom the deceased had been living with. Through flashbacks we discover that the fisherman and his son had some jealous conflicts because of her. Perhaps she was the lover of both of them. Certainly she had a flirtatious way about her, which is how the tinker has become a suspect. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 197z
A troubled wife reminisces about the events from her marriage that may have led to her daughter's suicidal depression in this Spanish drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Side-stepping any manifestation of a sexual component in romantic love, this standard comedy examines the wobbling love affairs of several different couples from a respectable distance. St. Valentine decides to come down to earth on the 14th of February to help out a handful of couples who love each other but need a gentle push in the right direction. Thanks to this saintly intervention, one pair finally decides to tie the knot and another opts to take a significant step in that direction. In further episodes, a couple is helped over some rocky moments and a med student may yet find a way to prove his love to the woman of his dreams. Nothing extradordinary here, though good direction by Fernando Palacios and a good cast help the story along. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Leblanc, Concha Velasco, (more)
