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, Rovi

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, Rovi

An errant husband will do practically anything to win back his spouse in this screwball comedy from Spain. Jorge (Jorge Perugorria) is married to Laura (Ana Alvarez), and while they love each other, they have sharply divergent personalities and sometimes find themselves at odds with one another. Jorge finds his will to fidelity overcome after he meets the beautiful Estrella (Jessica Schultz), and when Laura finds out about their brief affair, she walks out on him. Soon realizing he's made a horrible mistake, Jorge sets out to win Laura back, though it proves to be more difficult than he thought. Dile a Laura que la Quiero was the first feature film for writer/director José Miguel Juárez. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi