Mama

The 2008 financial crisis drives Jeffery, a banker over the edge. He kills his co-workers, ex-wife and drags his two young daughters to an abandoned cabin with the plan of killing them and committing suicide. The plans go awry as a mysterious entity rescues the girls. The girls are discovered five years later by a search part sponsored by Jeffery's twin brother, Lucas.  Lucas takes the girls back to his home which he shares with his partner Annabel. As the girls try to rehabilitate themselves to regular living, it is evident that they brought something back from the cabin with them. The atmosphere created by the directory shows the evident hand of Guillermo del Toro who is an executive produce of the film. Dark, slow and sudden are the adjectives you can attach to the film, which is one of the better horror films to come out in 2013.

Rating: * * +

The Skin I Live In

A man silently contemplates a larger than life picture on the wall of a stunning woman in a body suit. Suddenly the woman stirs and you realize you are looking at a close circuit camera feed on a giant LED TV. On the surface, the woman, Vera (Elena Anaya) seems to be Dr. Ledgard’s (Antonio Banderas) live in pet subject for his plastic surgery experiments. But contrary to the the title, most things in the movie are not skin deep as you find yourself immersed in a bizarre world that only Pedro Almodóvar can concoct. And even for him the film might have been a road less traveled on…

Rating: * * +

Airbag

The Spanish claimed that Delhi Belly had vestiges from an old 90’s flick from Spain. So the plan was made for the movie, chicken wings and other things.

Dumbo Konradin is engaged to a rich countess’s daughter and wears a multi-million dollar wedding ring. Weddings also mean bachelor parties with much debauchery. Konradin is dragged to a brothel by his friends who actually have more fun than him. Unfortunately for him, he ends up losing the ring up a prostitute’s ass. So like in Delhi Belly jewels are involved here too followed by insane number of underworld dons and their underlings. But like how a lot was lost in translation from Hindi much Spanish humor was missed. However thanks to this film many things in life will be “mui profesional” and sub-machine gun will always be somachigún.

Rating: * *

Biutiful

Only an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Javier Barden combination can use a beautiful city like Barcelona as the canvas to tell a story of abject poverty and dying hope. Nothing from the very outset prepares the viewer for anything but darkness and in an intense manner plots the story of Uxbal. His broken family, his African goons, the Chinese labour racket he is part of and his own mortality. Whilst the detail & reality in the story telling is well crafted and top notch, there is something amiss. And I still can't seem to put a finger on it. Its the spontaniety in the story telling possibly.


Rating: * * +

Timecrimes

Héctor (Karra Elejalde) stumbles in to the past and meets himself, setting off events that slowly spin out of control. A film that expose the complexities involved with time travel through a simple plot.

Rating: * * +

Blame it on Fidel

Anna's (Nina Kervel-Bey) aunt and her daughter moves in with her family in Paris after escaping the onset of communist revolt in Spain. Soon Anna's parents find themselves being drawn into the turbulent political scene in Paris during the 70s. Bewildered at the turn of events which leaves her orderly life in disarray, Anna decides to internalize it by blaming everything on Fidel and the barbudos. A brilliant slice of political life through the eyes of a child.

Rating: * * *

The Method

Madrid is exploding with anti-capitalist radical groups protesting against the World Bank and IMF. But a group of people vying for a mysterious job are oblivious to it. Closeted in a room they are put through a mental and psychological wringer as the tests they are given get stranger and stranger. A film that could give Donal Trump a few evil ideas.

Rating: * *

Only Human

Leni (Marián Aguilera) brings her fiance home to meet her eccentric Jewish family. Her boyfriend Rafi (Guillermo Toledo) is bewildered by the depressed mother, nymphomaniac sister, religious brother, blind grandfather and the missing dad. Then there is the added issue of his being Palestinian. A hilarious film that does have it moments where it leaves you ROFL.

Rating: * * +

The Machinist

Similar to this in concept, The Machinist (originally known as El Maquinista - produced by a Spanish company, the movie was shot entirely outside Barcelona, though its set in some west coast American city) is a thriller where the protagonist struggles to understand whats going around him. Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a young machinist who hasnt slept for over a year and resembles a skeleton. Christian Bale lost around 30 kg to prepare for the role (and to think that he played Batman in his next movie).

The lack of sleep drives him to make mistakes at work, and everyone around stops trusting him. And vice-versa. Before he realises, hes driven into severe state of paraonia. The only way out is to get his sleep back, and he therefore has to unravel this mystery. Tightly made movie and Bale impresses big time.

Rating: * * *

The Spirit of the Beehive

Set in a small Spanish town in the 1940s centers around young Ana (Ana Torrent) who is fascinated by Frankenstein after watching the 1930 classic by James Whale. The gullible girl is fooled by her sister Isabel (Isabel Tellería) into believing that he lives in an abandoned shed in a field. Their story is paralleled by estranged relationship between their parents. The father, a beekeeper, lives in world of his bees. Their mother pines for a love long lost. All in all a very allegorical film who's allegory was lost on me.

Rating: * +

Volver

Sometimes the dead come back to finish what they left undone. Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) and Irene's (Carmen Maura) passed on mother feels the same and floats back into the lives of her daughters. One would think that such a theme would make for a dark and brooding film. But Pedro Almodovar is wickedly cunning as always and each scene in the film is like a colorful painting. And when such colors drape the stunning Penelope Cruz on the screen, it does indeed call for something special.

Rating: * * *

Sex and Lucia

Sometimes when you break up one feels like an island floating on the ocean. Lucia (Paz Vega) finds herself on such an island. Strangely she finds that she is not alone. A cleverly intertwined story with much erotica and a hint of magic realism.

Rating: * * *

El Crimen Perfecto

Rafael is the perfect salesman who works in ladies section of mall. He can sell anything and the women can't keep their hands off him. To top it off he is about to get the job of his dreams. So life is sweet until Alfredo from the men's section gets in the way of his dream job and Lourdes, the ugliest woman in the store decides to help him. Funny in parts but when put together it turned out to be not that amusing.

Rating: * +

Torremolinos 73

Alfredo, an encyclopedia salesman, sucks at selling them. His hot wife, Carmen, is desperate to have a baby. His boss tells him that it is the end of the road for door to salesmen but he invites him to be part of "a new product, revolutionary and secret". The product is basically pornographia made with a Super 8 camera couched as educational sex films with the couple playing the leads. Alfredo becomes more obsessed with the camera and Carmen with having a baby. Made for quite an amusing viewing.

Rating: * *

Dot the I

A sexy love triangle forms on the eve of Carmen's (Natalia Verbeke) wedding, when Kit (Gael Garcia Bernal) recklessly kisses his way into her life. Her rich and boring husband, Barnaby (James D'Arcy) is left clutching at straws as he watches his fiancee unravel. The in the middle of the unraveling, director Matthew Parkhill looses the plot and decides to dot the I in "I am confused".

Rating: * +

Los dos lados de la cama

In English it translates to 'Two Sides of the Bed'. As one can imagine, its about 2 couples and how fate gets the combinations to be rearranged dramatically. Whilst its funny, there was a tired sense of deja-vu.

Rating: * *

Don't Move

"The one who loves you is always there. Even before meeting you..."

Dr Timoteo (Sergio Castellito) is in a hospital waiting for his daughter to come out of surgery. During this time of uncertainty and suffering, he recounts his affair in his younger day with the poor and destitute Italia (Penelope Cruz). The movie is well crafted by Castellito who directed and wrote the screenplay. This is his third film that I am seeing and my respect for him has grown with each one. And I don't know why Cruz did not win an Oscar for her role...

Rating: * * *