[If there is no official English language title, I’ve put a translation in square brackets]
Blancanieves / Snow White
Director: Pablo Berger
Cast: Maribel Verdú, Macarena García, Sofia Oria, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Pere Ponce, José María Pou, Inma Cuesta, Ángela Molina.
This appeared on my list of films to see in 2012, but it hasn’t reached DVD yet so I’m still waiting. It is representing Spain at the Oscars in 2013 and I’m hoping that if it makes the shortlist then it might get a theatrical release in the UK.
El artista y la modelo / The Artist and the Model
Director: Fernando Trueba
Cast: Jean Rochefort, Aida Folch, Claudia Cardinale.
This seemed to get mixed reviews in Spain but the black and white cinematography looks sumptuous in the trailer and Trueba’s name is always a mark of quality for me.
El cuerpo / The Body
Director: Oriol Paulo
Cast: Jose Coronado, Hugo Silva, Belén Rueda, Aura Garrido.
The directorial debut of one of the writers of Los ojos de Julia / Julia’s Eyes (Guillem Morales, 2010). I haven’t read all that much about it (it was only released in early December) but it sounds intriguing – the body of a rich woman (Rueda) disappears from the morgue before the autopsy can take place. How did she die? A detective (Coronado) investigates both the disappearance and the events leading up to her death.
El muerto y ser feliz / The Dead Man and Being Happy
Director: Javier Rebollo
Cast: José Sacristán, Roxana Blanco.
Buenos Aires. Sacristán plays a hired assassin, a Spaniard who has spent half of his life in Argentina. When he discovers that he is dying, he absconds from the hospital with a supply of morphine and heads out on the road with no particular destination in mind…
Rebollo’s previous film, La mujer sin piano / Woman without Piano (2009), was very distinctive, so I’m interested to see where he has gone next and Sacristán has been picking up awards for his performance in this black comedy.
El mundo es nuestro / [The World is Ours]
Director: Alfonso Sánchez
Cast: Alfonso Sánchez, Alberto López, Olga Martínez, Pepa Díaz Meca, Antonia Gómez.
I don’t know much about this one – I was aware of it appearing on Filmin with some fanfare and its reputation as something of an online phenomenon. But it has been appearing on multiple Spanish end-of-year lists and topped the readers’ poll of Spanish films in El País – so I’d better catch up with it.
Fin / The End
Director: Jorge Torregrossa
Cast: Maribel Verdú, Clara Lago, Daniel Grao, Antonio Garrido, Blanca Romero.
A reunion between old friends is interrupted by an incident that leaves them cut off from the outside world. As they try to reach help cracks their relationships come under pressure and the group starts to disintegrate….
Invasor / [Invader]
Director: Daniel Calparsoro
Cast: Alberto Ammann, Antonio de la Torre, Karra Elejalde, Inma Cuesta.
Thriller. A soldier (Ammann) awakes from a serious accident that took place during his time in Iraq. But as his memory returns, he realises that his memories do not tally with the official record of events…
Madrid 1987
Director: David Trueba
Cast: José Sacristán, María Valverde.
I don’t know that much about what transpires in this one –only that the trailer suggests that it is mainly a conversation between Sacristán and Valverde that takes place when their characters become locked in a bathroom together.
Sueño y silencio / Dream and Silence
Director: Jaime Rosales
Cast: Oriol Rosselló, Yolanda Galocha.
Black and White. Oriol and Yolanda live in Paris with their two daughters. While on holiday in Spain an accident leaves one child dead and Oriol with no memory of their late daughter.
Una pistola en cada mano / A Gun in Each Hand
Director: Cesc Gay
Cast: Javier Cámara, Ricardo Darín, Eduard Fernández, Jordi Mollà, Eduardo Noriega, Alberto San Juan, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Luis Tosar, Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, Candela Peña, Clara Segura, Leonor Watling.
This was also on my list of forthcoming (2012) projects I wanted to see but it has only recently been released in Spain. A comedy about modern men –my main reasons for wanting to see it are Cesc Gay’s involvement and those men onscreen.
Next week there will be a post about ten new films due to arrive in 2013.
