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about the program
manuel gutiérrez aragón retrospective
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Note: all films are subtitled in English.
Presented in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SGAE) and the Spanish Ministry of Culture (ICAA).
Since 1992, December has been earmarked for our yearly survey of Spanish cinema, one of the most consistently provocative of the European filmmaking traditions. Spanish Cinema Now continues to chart the remarkable and rising surge of innovative filmmaking from the Iberian peninsula.
TANGOS ARE FOR TWO /
SUS OJOS SE CERRARON Y
EL MUNDO SIGUE ANDANDO
Jaime Chávarri, 1997; 94m
Buenos Aires in the 1930s: A city of immigrants where nothing is possible, but where everything happens. Renzo is a tango singer who lives catch-as-catch-can. Convinced by a compadre's girlfriend that he looks exactly like famous singer Gardel, Renzo begins to take advantage of the resemblance, giving rise to dramatic consequences that change all their lives forever.
Fri Dec 4: 4; Sun Dec 6: 6:15
OPEN YOUR EYES /
ABRE LOS OJOS
Alejandro Amenábar, 1997; 117m
While living a storybook life of luxury and indulgence, Cesar meets Nuria, a young woman quickly infatuated with him. But Cesar is enraptured with Sofia, and so, after a quick tryst, he tries to get rid of Nuria. Furious, Nuria attempts a deadly revenge; Cesar survives, his appearance drastically changed, along with his view of life and the world. Seeking remedies for his dilemma, Cesar is caught between the past and the future, between consciousness and dream. Geoffrey Gilmore writes that Amenábar has followed Tesis, his suspenseful and immensely popular first feature, with "a gothic tale of a young man's obsession, incorporating elements of various myths and fairy tales--'Beauty and the Beast,' 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'--all within the framework of a psychological thriller."
Sat Dec 5: 8:45;
Sun Dec 6: 4
THE RATS /
LAS RATAS
Antonio Giménez-Rico, 1997; 97m
Spain in the 1950s: Giménez-Rico introduces us to a harsh geographical milieu that supports a community living very close to the earth and the cycles of nature. The only home Nini and his father enjoy is a cave, and they earn their keep by hunting water rats. Their
existence may be primitive, even miserable, but these Castilians are fierce defenders of their dignity and
freedom. When change disrupts Nini's world, violence erupts and tragedy is inevitable.
Mon Dec 7: 2 and 6:15;
Tues Dec 8: 4
MY BROTHER'S GUN /
LA PISTOLA DE MI HERMANO
Ray Loriga, 1997; 92m
An adolescent rebel without a cause who sees himself as a quintessential outsider finds a pistol loaded with three bullets. The first bullet he fires--at a security guard--propels him into desperate flight, a journey that bodes ill for a happy ending. MY BROTHER'S GUN is the story of a kid on the run, a mother who cannot fathom what makes her misfit son tick, a cop who wonders how he can pursue a child, and a brother who can only wait for news from the front.
Mon Dec 7: 4 and 8:15;
Tues Dec 8: 2
CARESSES /
CARICIAS
Ventura Pons, 1997; 104m
Based on a 1991 play by Sergi Belbel, CARESSES plays as a roundelay of contemporary lust and love, featuring 11 interlocking scenes that involve two characters, one of whom carries forward into the next scene, until the chain comes full circle. The emotions
generated by human hits and misses run the gamut from funny to raging to sexy to tearful; fathers, mothers, sons, lesbians, couples--all make surprising connections or disconnects. Pons encourages his lovers and other strangers to reveal their histories through dialogue and gesture, and invests the film with a provocative ambiguity that slowly seasons into insights about human relationships on the millennial cusp. Pons says the stage version of CARESSES inspired his contemplation of "loneliness at the end of the 20th century, the search for love, communication, caresses, and how difficult it is in Western society, especially in big cities."
Fri Dec 11: 2 and 6:15;
Sat Dec 12: 6:30
MENSAKA /
PÁGINAS DE UNA HISTORIA, MENSAKA
Salvador García Ruiz, 1998; 105m
David is a mensaka--a motorbike messenger--by day and a drummer in a band by night. When the band must decide on a record deal, David, handsome Fran, lead singer/guitarist, and shy Javi, the bass player, are forced to confront their very different classes, dreams, and loyalities. Writing for the Toronto International Film Festival, Ramiro Puerta notes that "García Ruiz tells a gritty story that is refreshingly compassionate without being sentimental...exposing the emotional woes of each character with admirable simplicity, eschewing stereotypes and allowing the audience to emphathize with their personalities and conflicts."
Fri Dec 11: 4 and 8:20;
Sun Dec 13: 6:30
TO THOSE WHO LOVE /
A LOS QUE AMAN
Isabel Coixet, 1998; 97m
In the 18th century, in the course of one night, an old man recounts a remarkable tale to a mesmerized youth. It is the saga of the storyteller's own life, one that's filled with great passion, as he changes
professions and places, but never wavers in his all-consuming love for the beautiful Matilde. That love arose in his childhood, just at the moment when two strangers--a fencing master and his dreaming,
solitary daughter--appeared in his neighborhood.
After her indie-flavored Things I Never Told You--shot in English with with Lili Taylor--Coixet handles this lush, romantic tale with astonishing assurance.
Mon Dec 14: 2 and 6:15;
Tues Dec 15: 4
IN PRAISE OF OLDER WOMEN /
EN BRAZOS DE LA MUJER MADURA
Manuel Lombardero, 1997; 105m
This magnificent adaptation of Stephen Vizinczey's well-known novel follows a young man's search for love, sensuality and self-assurance. Against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and its depressing aftermath, Andrés, boy and man, finds eros in the arms of a seductive aristocrat (Faye Dunaway), a tender virgin (Ingrid Rubio), an anti-fascist intellectual (Joanna Pacula), and a wild and seductive violinist (Florence Pernel). In Praise of Older Women,
Lombardero's debut feature, paints a powerful mural of Spain in the 40s and garners outstanding performances from an exceptional cast.
Mon Dec 14: 4 and 8:15;
Tues Dec 15: 2
TORRENTE, THE SILLY ARM OF THE LAW /
TORRENTE, EL BRAZO TONTO DE LA LEY
Santiago Segura, 1998; 99m
You'll enjoy a truly hilarious ride when you sign on for this slightly demented saga of a Spanish cop who's a macho, alcoholic, racist fascist--and, by the by, a rabid fan of Atlético de Madrid Football Club. One day, quite by accident, Torrente discovers a nest of drug traffickers in a Chinese restaurant. A 1998 box-office hit, the film blends action, romance, suspense and raucous comedy as we accompany Torrente and his mates through a series of hilarious misadventures and pratfalls in this send-up of macho posturing.
Fri Dec 18: 2 and 6:30;
Sat Dec 19: 9
AIRBAG
Juanma Bajo Ulloa, 1997; 124m
"Airbag sets out to be frenzied, fun and daring [and] successfully revels in its own indie-style cleverness and breathless sense of self-parody.... This third, long-awaited feature from 30-year-old helmer Bajo Ulloa is a $6 million postmodern comedy-thriller that shows equal traces of John Woo and Quentin Tarantino...without neglecting the quirky kitsch of Pedro Almodóvar... With a speaking cast of more than 50, the epic thinks big both visually and conceptually, with the same impressive technical virtuosity Bajo Ulloa showed in Butterfly Wings and The Dead Mother. Nerdy mommy's boy Juantxo, the kind of guy who falls in love with a hooker on his stag night, is engaged to be married. Dragged unwillingly along to a party by friends, he loses his pricey wedding ring inside the body of a prostitute. The rest of the pic charts the frenzied three-day attempts by Juantxo and his pals to recover the ring as they hurtle around northern Spain." -- Jonathan Holland, Variety
Fri Dec 18: 4 and 8:30;
Sat Dec 19: 6:30
THE INTERIOR SCAR /
TODAS HIEREN
Pablo Llorca, 1998; 83m
After 15 years in a concentration camp, Sartorius is on his way back to his hometown in search of his wife. On the train, he encounters a newly wed couple, Beatriz and Bruno. The young woman reminds him strongly of his wife, whom he believes is staying with an architect named Bergmann. What Sartorius doesn't know is that his long-dead spouse has been embalmed and stored in Bergmann's basement, where the architect is building a monument in her memory. An accident forces Beatriz and Bruno to join Sartorius in Bergmann's home: during the next few days, love, hate and vengeance explode, forever scarring everyone embroiled in this intricate, intellectually provocative thriller, equal parts Poe and Borges.
Sun Dec 20: 2 and 8;
Mon Dec 21: 6:15
DO IT FOR ME /
HAZLO POR MI
Angel Fernández Santos, 1997; 95m
Angel seemingly has everything: beautiful family, impressive house, successful career. Then he meets cool, steely-eyed Isabel, and....For this, his remarkably impressive debut feature, director Fernández Santos revitalizes the classic noir parable by creating an intricate dance of death between Angel, Isabel, and Isabel's ex-con lover Paco. Together they hurtle along towards a kind of mutually assured destruction, each hoping they can save themselves while the
others go down.
Sun Dec 20: 4;
Mon Dec 21: 4 and 8
TRAIN OF SHADOWS /
TREN DE SOMBRAS
José Luis Guerin, 1997; 80m
An amateur filmmaker and lawyer living in Paris at the end of the silent era, Gerard Fleury devoted his free time, supposedly, to filming landscapes; his mysterious death while shooting prompts researchers many years later to examine his surviving footage in the hope of discovering the cause of his demise. The footage reveals not only what can be seen but perhaps more importantly what cannot be seen: the camera as gateway to an alternative reality. One of Spain's most thoughtful filmmakers, who works rarely and yet is highly regarded by his contemporaries, José Luis Guerin offers a kind of "counter-history" of the cinema in this wry, provocative fable.
Sun Dec 20: 6:15;
Mon Dec 21: 2
about the program
manuel gutiérrez aragón retrospective
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