Romance

One man's search for love takes him on an unexpected journey in this purposefully offbeat romantic comedy, which picks up where Eliseo Subiela's El Lado Oscuro Del Corazon left off. Struggling poet Oliverio (Dario Grandinetti) is still looking for the perfect woman, though his standards are a bit on the high side; he wants a woman whose passion will literally allow him to fly, and those who fail to make the grade disappear down a trap door near his bed. Oliverio is taken with Miranda (Carolina Peleritti), but while he wants love without commitments, she wants a stable relationship, so he sets out to find Ana (Sandra Ballesteros), an upscale prostitute with whom he once had a fiery affair. As it turns out, Ana is willing to offer Oliverio a one-night-stand, but with a daughter to look after, she isn't interested in much more than that. With his constant companions Female Death (Nacha Guevara) and Time (Manuel Bandera) at his side, Oliverio decides to travel to the coast of Spain in hopes of finding Alejandra (Ariadna Gil), a lovely high-wire artist he's seen on a circus poster. Oliverio meets Alejandra and tries to win her heart, but before she'll get involved with him, she demands that he prove his love by performing a dangerous tightrope routine, leaving Oliverio to wonder if this is more commitment than he can handle. Bringing back many of the players and locations from the first film, El Lado Oscuro Del Corazon 2 received its North American premier at the 2001 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Murder, mob justice and a young man's coming of age are brought together in this thriller filmed in Mexico. Ramon (Diego Luna), a young man who lives in a small Mexican farming community, one day finds the body of Adela (Laila Saab) in a field, stabbed to death. The incident is doubly upsetting for Ramon, because he was in love with the girl, though he never did anything about it. The town's sheriff (Hector Alterio) quickly names a culprit, known as the Gypsy (Karra Elejalde). But while the Gypsy was elsewhere at the time of the murder, he can't proclaim his innocence, as he was with his lover at the time, a married woman. Ramon senses something is wrong, but isn't sure what to do -- especially when many in town are pressuring him to avenge the death of the woman he loved, despite the fact it was no more than a schoolboy's crush. The debut film from director Gabriel Retes, Un Dulce Olor A Muerte/A Sweet Scent of Death was shown at the 1999 Guadalajara Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jose Alonso, Enrique Rocha, and Lina Santos star in an erotic drama detailing the consequences of infidelity for three women in different stages of their lives. In the first tale, temptation presents itself to a woman whose wedding date is fast closing in. After exploring the effects of an extramarital tryst on a couple struggling to keep their relationship afloat in the difficult middle years of their marriage, the film closes by detailing the relationship of an ageing couple who have been married for many years and seem to take comfort in simply going through the motions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When a captured drug trafficker has the young daughter of the judge presiding over his trial kidnapped, it's up to a retired police officer to get back on the streets and bring the men responsible for carrying out the crime to justice in this south of the border thriller starring Alexis Ayala, Betty Monroe, and Jorge Vargas. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Just how far would you go to get financing for your business? Donald Chandler (Roy Werner) is the owner of a restaurant who suddenly finds himself without a business or a job when his wife leaves him, taking the deed to the eatery with her. Eager to start over, Donald goes into a business partnership with Miguel Sanchez (Gerardo Mejia), a gardener who was taking care of Donald's lawn until he won a fortune in the lottery. Miguel is willing to front Donald the money to open a new restaurant, but there's a catch -- in exchange, Donald has to marry Catalina (Laura Elena Harring), Miguel's beautiful but ill-tempered daughter who needs an American husband in order to get a green card and stay in California. Loco Love (produced under the title Mi Casa, Su Casa was the first feature film from director Bryan Lewis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Brazilian filmmaker Jorge Furtado makes his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Homen Que Copiava (The Man Who Copied). Andre (Lazaro Ramos) is a young man who likes to draw, but the only job he can get is making copies at a bookstore. His co-worker Marinez (Luana Piovani) tells him that she will only sleep with wealthy men, despite the fact that she's dating a poor salesman (Pedro Cardoso). Andre develops a crush on his neighbor Silvia (Leandra Leal), a young woman who works in a clothing store. In order to impress her, he comes up with a counterfeit scam using his only technological resource. Homen Que Copiava was shown at the 2003 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A web of romantic entanglements covers a growing circle of friends in this romantic comedy drama from Spain. Tomás (Alex Brendemühl) is a college instructor who has been secretly dating one of his students, Ana (Miranda Makaroff). Making the matter more complicated is the fact that Ana's uncle is Mario (Eduard Fernández), one of Tomás' best friends. Mario has long been involved with Sara (Vicenta N'dongo), but he has reason to believe she is having an affair, and he's desperate to hold on to her. At the same time, Mario has met Cristina, and is trying to fight his interest in her. Irene (Mònica López) and Manu (Chisco Amado) are another seemingly happy couple fighting infidelity when she begins having second thoughts about their relationship. And Andres has fallen for Sofia (María Pujalte), a clerk at his favorite bookstore, but he learns she's still pining for Eric, who talked her into bed one night but has yet to come back to her. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A passionate romance smolders as struggling miners rise up against their bosses in this period drama set in the late 19th century. Luis (Héctor Noguera) is a wealthy and powerful man who owns a coal-mining operation in Chile. Luis' daughter Virginia (Paulina Gálvez) has just completed her studies to become a schoolteacher when her mother dies of a lingering illness, and she comes home to be with her family. As Virginia's godmother, Isidora (Consuelo Holzapfel), takes over the day-to-day affairs of the estate, Luis turns over the chores of overseeing the mines to his assistant, a ruthless man named Davis (Ernesto Malbran), so he may pursue his own interests. While Luis has long taken a casual attitude toward the welfare of his employees, Davis regards the miners with little more than contempt, and under his watch, poverty spreads and conditions become increasingly dangerous. As Virginia becomes the new teacher at the local school, she learns that her former boyfriend Fernando (Francisco Reyes) is working as a miner, and they soon rekindle their love affair. But Fernando has become aligned with Jonás (Patricio Bunster), a labor activist who is trying to unionize the miners and strip Luis and Davis of their power over the community. Sub Terra received its North American premiere at the 2004 Los Angeles Latino Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In post-Franco Spain, a woman is hard-pressed to figure out what the new rules for women are. In this melodrama based on the novel by Almudena Grandes, Malena (newcomer Adriana Gil) explores life and relationships in the ever-changing world she finds herself in. Complicating matters for Malena is the example of her older sister, Reina, who is impeccably well-behaved. What's a girl to do except seek solace in the arms of as many men as possible? As she stumbles from catastrophe to catastrophe, Malena becomes her family's poster-child for what not to do with one's life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A pair of childhood friends find that their bond has not weakened with the passing of years in this affecting drama from filmmaker Daniel Barone. For nearly a decade, Jaoquin (Adrian Suar) has suffered from depression, but when his childhood friend Mara (Leticia Brédice) returns home after eight years away, the clouds soon begin to part for Jaoquin. As the old friends share memories of the past and visit the place where time seemed to stop for them as children, an old bond once again grows strong and the caring friends take solace in the familiarity of their surroundings. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A Mexican millionaire tests the loyalty of his new bride in this romantic drama starring Jaime Fernandez and Maria Elena Marques. Shortly after taking the beautiful Dorotea as his bride, wealthy Alberto begins to wonder whether her love is pure or motivated by money. After parachuting out of his airplane mere moments before it crashes into the mountains of Chihuahua, Carlos hides out at the remote ranch of his loyal brother Carlos. Believing that Alberto has died, Dorotea's relatives in Mexico City assume that Carlos will receive a sizable inheritance. Now, in order to test the depths of Dorotea's love, Alberto asks Carlos to travel to Mexico City and meet her family. But Dorotea is furious that Alberto would have gone hunting without her, and left for Acapulco. Realizing that her absence may be the one thing keeping them from a life of luxury, Dorotea's family must scramble to find a convincing substitute for their daughter before Carlos arrives in town and Alberto's greatest fears are confirmed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man in his early twenties starts thinking about his future and where the woman he loves will figure into it in this romantic comedy-drama from Brazil. It's a cool and rainy night, and Carlos (Murilo Benicio) is waiting outside a movie theater for his girlfriend Julia (Carolina Ferraz) to show up for their date. As Carlos starts to think he's been stood up, his mind wanders, and he finds himself imagining three different scenarios of how Julia might fit into his future. In one, Carlos is a businessman who is married, though not very happily, to a woman named Maria (Beth Goulart). One day, Carlos happens to run into his former girlfriend Julia, and he's soon tempted into infidelity. But does Carlos have the courage to leave Maria and start his life over with Julia? In another daydream, Carlos and Julia were married, but he divorced her when he came out of the closet after falling in love with Pedro (Emilio de Mello). Pedro and Carlos are very happy together, much to the annoyance of Julia, who goes out of her way to make things difficult for her former husband and his new lover. And finally, Carlos imagines himself an overgrown adolescent layabout who still lives with his mom (Irene Ravache) and seems incapable of handling a long-term relationship, though that doesn't stop him from seducing as many women as his circumstances allow. Carlos is urged to consult a computer dating service in hopes of finding a woman he can settle down with; Carlos gives it a try, and discovers his first match is none other that his significant other from college, Julia. Possible Loves was awarded the Latin American Cinema Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A female documentary director's latest project is to capture her sister's marital difficulties on film in hopes of shedding light on the travails of modern romance. Ostensibly, the film aspires to view the problems from a contemporary female perspective, but the story's end belies its basis in traditional Mexican morality. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide