Sin Nombre
MA15+USA/Mexico, 2009Director: Cary Fukunaga
Starring: Paulina Gaitan, Edgar Flores, Kristyan Ferrer
What's it about?Director Cary Fukunaga, famous for his work on the acclaimed True Detective and Beast of No Nation, broke through with this raw and powerful thriller. Sayra reunites with her long-estranged father and attempts to leave Honduras with him, to start a new life in America. They board a freight train, which is the focus of an attempted robbery. It falls to young gang member, Casper, to make a decision that will change their lives. Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and winner of the Directing Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Gloria
MA15+
Chile, 2012
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Starring: Paulina Garcia, Sergio Hernández, Diego Fontecilla
What's it about?
Actress Paulina García gives an arresting performance as Gloria, a 58-year-old divorcée whose children have left home and who is determined to defy old age and loneliness by going out to singles night discos, dancing and flirting. But when she meets Rodolfo, an ex-naval officer seven years her senior, she starts believing it might lead to something more. This gorgeous Chilean drama offers a convincing and original account of the older dating scene, and though not a comedy, ensures plenty of laughs.
Gloria: Sebastián Lelio interview
Tony Manero
MA15+
Chile, 2008
Director: Pablo Larrain
Starring: Alfredo Castro, Amparo Noguera, Héctor Morales
What's it about?
Set Santiago in 1978, against a backdrop of fear, repression and persecution under the nefarious rule of military dictator Augusto Pinochet, a John Travolta-obsessed sociopath goes to extreme lengths to mimic his Saturday Night Fever hero. The at times brutally black humour of Pablo Larrain’s offbeat psycho-thriller character study makes for an uncomfortably engaging, retro-themed oddity; you’ll laugh, perhaps in spite of yourself, and you’ll cringe at Castro’s masterful grasp of Machiavellian self-interest.
Undertow
MA15+
Peru, 2009
Director: Javier Fuentes-León
Starring: Cristian Mercado, Tatiana Astengo, Manolo Cardona
What's it about?
Taking place on the postcard perfect beach of a tiny Peruvian village, writer/director Javier Fuentes-León’s achingly beautiful Undertow is a haunting queer love story of secret desire and repression. Miguel (Cristian Mercado), a young fisherman, is expecting his first child with his wife, while secretly mourning the drowning death of his lover, painter Santiago (Manolo Cardona). As Miguel struggles to keep it together, he is repeatedly visited by Santiago’s spirit as he hunts for the missing body. Prepare yourself to shed a tear or two.
Ferpect Crime
MA15+
Spain, 2004
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Starring: Guillermo Toledo, Mónica Cervera, Enrique Villén
What's it about?
You may never shop retail again after watching this madcap Spanish black comedy set inside a successful department store. The head of Ladies' Wear will stop at nothing for the coveted promotion to floor manager, even bumping off his arch rival in the process. The arrival of a reality TV crew complicates matters, and what was a Jerry Lewis farce takes on hints of Hitchcock.
The Secret in Their Eyes
MA15+
Argentina, 2009
Director: Juan José Campanella
Starring: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago
What's it about?
Benjamín Espósito (played by Argentina's biggest star Ricardo Darín, The Aura), a recently retired federal agent, decides to write a novel based on an unresolved homicide case he investigated 25 years earlier. He hopes to find closure for his failure in the investigation and for the unreciprocated love of his old boss - both of which still haunt him. This fascinating movie, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, was recently remade in the USA with Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman.
[link title="The Secret in Their Eyes ★★★ ½ review" url="node/5047"]Top 5 Spanish Films of All Time
Broken Embraces
M
Spain, 2009
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo
What's it about?
The Spanish auteur lays bare his love of cinema in this visually stunning and engrossing noir melodrama, which on the surface tells the story of Mateo Blanco, a blind filmmaker, who upon learning of the death of one of his former financiers, stars recalling the past when, fourteen years ago, he lost his sight and the love of his life in a terrible car accident. Almodovar's muse Penelope Cruz gives here one of her finest performances as aspiring actress Lena.
[link title="Broken Embraces ★★★ ½ review" url="node/4909"]
[REC]
MA15+
Spain, 2007
Director: Paco Plaza, Jaume Balagueró
Starring: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano
What's it about?
The first installment of the Spanish [REC] franchise is a taut thriller of the found footage horror genre with a religious flavour. Set in Barcelona, it follows a television reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her unseen cameraman, as they become trapped in a building infected with a flesh-eating disease that has turned its residents into ravenous zombies. Do not watch alone.
Unconscious
M
Spain, 2004
Director: Joaquín Oristrell
Starring: Leonor Watling, Luis Tosar, Àlex Brendemühl
What's it about?
An expectant, ultra-modern woman living in 1913 Barcelona is thrust into a complex mystery when her psychiatrist husband goes missing and she is forced to seek the help of her conservative brother-in-law in locating her missing spouse. Alma's discovery of a strange manuscript on hysteria and female sexuality proves the launching point for a Sherlock Holmes kind of adventure, where hypnosis, love, danger, and every imaginable taboo are all intertwined.
The Aura
M
Argentina, 2005
Director: Fabián Bielinsky
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Manuel Rodal, Dolores Fonzi
What's it about?
Late Argentinean director Fabien Bielinsky, whose acclaimed heist movie Nine Queens shot actor Ricardo Darin to international fame in 2000, returned in 2005 with a neo-noir thriller about a recluse taxidermist, who suffers from epilepsy and is obsessed with committing the perfect crime. His wish comes true during a hunting trip in the Patagonian forest when he accidentally kills a man, who turns out to be a real criminal. A hypnotic film with a stand out performance from Ricardo Darin.
