Pedro Olea Movies
Spanish filmmaker Pedro Olea has worked in television and feature films. A graduate of the Escuela Oficial de Cinematografía, Olea reviewed films for the magazine Nuestro Cine between 1963 and 1965. He started working for Radiotelevisión in 1966. Olea made his feature directorial debut the following year with Días de Viejo Color/Days of Fading Color (1967). Olea began his television career the following year by directing an episode of a popular international anthology series; the segment, titled "Topical Spanish," was censored and only shown outside of Spain. In 1976, Olea became a director of television commercials. Olea returned to his native Bilbao three years later and after a failed attempt to establish himself in Basque cinema, resumed his career in Madrid. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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
- Starring:
- Maribel Verdú, Jorge Sanz, (more)
A well-to-do Spanish attorney finds himself in hot water after falling for a shady Bulgarian man in the 2002 comedy-drama, Los novios bulgaros (Bulgarian Lovers). Middle-aged Madrid native Daniel (Fernando Guillen Cuervo, who also helped adapt the script) lives a life of relative comfort and is generally pretty happy with how things have been going for him lately. His one guilty pleasure is frequenting the city's gay quarter looking for men to pick up for an evening of reckless abandon. One night, Daniel meets Bulgarian Kyril (Dritan Biba) and is quickly smitten beyond all hope of reason. Finding out that Kyril is essentially homeless and penny-less, Daniel nonetheless gets him into bed--after buying him dinner--even after Kyril confesses to having a fiancee back in Bulgaria. As Daniel falls deeper in love with Kyril, Kyril takes advantage of the situation by convincing the lawyer to complete various tasks for him, which range from the morally questionable to the highly illegal and dangerous. A more than willing stooge to Kyril's demands--and all too aware of his situation--Daniel resigns himself to following this relationship through to the end, wherever it may lead. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Guillen Cuervo, Dritan Biba, (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
- 1992
For Astarlos, living in Madrid at the time of the troubled rule of Isabel the Second in 1868, fencing is not an outmoded method of personal combat, but it is a way of life. It teaches lessons about comportment, attention, responsiveness to others, and taking responsibility for one's own life. Further, it is an aristocratic art, and the heart of aristocratic sentiment (no matter what one's station of life at birth) is to take responsibility for those who are less fortunate than oneself. Noblesse oblige. In this drama, the fencing master seeks to remain true to his values during a turbulent time which imperils his student's lives. One student is a beautiful and mysterious young woman, another is a handsome lad of aristocratic birth. Among the outsiders impinging on their lives are a police inspector and a passionate revolutionary. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Omero Antonutti, Assumpta Serna, (more)
- 1990
In this religious horror-story, Father Juan (Fernando Guillen Cuervo) is being interviewed by the Holy Office (Inquisition) in 16th century Spain. He tells a chilling tale of having been born to a woman who has conceived him through the intervention of the devil. However, until the woman was on his deathbed, he was a pretty good priest. It is only when she commends him to her husband, his father, the devil, that he (eventually) gives in to temptation and becomes the focal point for a series of unnatural manifestations (such as snow in the summer) which call attention to his peculiar birth. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Guillen Cuervo, Lola Forner, (more)
- 1986
Four protagonists carry the action in this adventure story about betrayal, the high seas, and illegal shipping. Patxi (Alfredo Landa) is a widowed sea captain who becomes friends with Esteban, a ship's machinist (Imanol Arias), and the two end up going to Africa where they get in trouble and land in jail. Patxi's daughter Begona (Virginia Mataix) is being romantically pursued by the corrupt owner of a shipping line who is trading in illegal arms (Carlos Lucena). Ignoring her erstwhile suitor, she flies off to get her father and Esteban out of their predicament. But tragedy has already struck: Patxi is dead, and Esteban and Begona go back home where they seek justice. Much of Bandera Negra was shot in the Basque area of Spain, and the film was sponsored by the Basque regional government. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfredo Landa, Imanol Arias, (more)
- 1984
In a well-acted historical drama about clashes between opposite ends of the economic and cultural spectrum, a literal witch hunt in a Basque village sets orthodox religion against pagan beliefs, feudal lords against the impoverished peasantry, abusive men against defenseless women, and in some ways, Spaniards against Basques. The witches are female and from the lower classes, the persecutors are wealthy white Christians. The story revolves around Garazi (Silvia Munt) whose grandmother is burned at the stake when convicted by the Spanish inquisitor of being a witch, something that brings Garazi under suspicion and eventually into prison. She is tortured in prison and raped by her rejected suitor, the vicious son of a local landlord. While Garazi is suffering her own pain, a struggle on a much broader scale is in the offing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvia Munt, Mary Carrillo, (more)
- 1977
Set in 1920s Barcelona, this Spanish film explores the events leading up to an assassination attempt made on the life of dictator Primo de Rivera by an upper-class transvestite homosexual with anarchist political views. Scenes from his "characteristic" lifestyle are reconstructed for the movie, as well has his crises of conscience: He has decided to kill the dictator, and at the same time has decided to tell his much-beloved mother that he is a homosexual. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José M. Sacristán, Paco Algora, (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
- 1972
In this Spanish film, Daniel (Tony Isbert) is a member of The Organization. It is never quite clear whether The Organization is part of the government, a secret society, or something else. Whatever it is, it is powerful, and does not take disobedience lightly. He is sent on an assignment to Bilbao to determine what has become of a lad his age, a former member. He takes over the boy's room in an odd rooming house. When he is given the photo of the boy's girlfriend (Geraldine Chaplin), he is so taken with it that he puts off his quest. The Organization requires him to continue, however, so he tracks her down to a remote fishing village. The two fall in love and attempt to escape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This colorful horror tale begins with Benito Freire (Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez), a pedlar and trader of charms and fabrics in a small village in northern Spain. He spends his spare time as a wolf man, murdering women and burying their corpses in the Ancines Woods. Only a forest dwelling witch knows his transformation is caused by epileptic seizures. The Abbot (Antonio Casas) is called on to form a team to investigate, and local farmers set out wolf traps in an effort to halt the harrowing murders. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal, Antonio Casas, (more)
