Showing posts with label Los amantes pasajeros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Los amantes pasajeros. Show all posts

Thursday 9 May 2013

Los amantes pasajeros / I'm So Excited! (Pedro Almodóvar, 2013)



Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Screenplay: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Javier Cámara (Joserra), Carlos Areces (Fajas), Raúl Arévalo (Ulloa), Antonio de la Torre (Álex Acero), Lola Dueñas (Bruna), Carmen Machi (concierge), Laya Martí (Bride), Cecilia Roth (Norma Boss), Hugo Silva (Benito), Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Groom), Blanca Suárez (Ruth), Guillermo Toledo (Ricardo Galán), José Luis Torrijo (Más), Paz Vega (Alba), José María Yazpik (Infante).
Synopsis: Madrid, the present. A flight to Mexico takes off with a fault with its landing gear and subsequently circles the skies over Spain while the authorities look for an appropriate place for an emergency landing. The crew sedate the economy class passengers but have their work cut out with the people in business class. As the air stewards put on their best performances, the booze flows and pills are popped, secrets tumble out and inhibitions are lost.

These are just initial thoughts - I'm writing this the same day I saw the film.

    I went in with my expectations lowered, in part because I got too hyped about La piel que habito but also because I was aware that the reviews have been mixed (I didn't read any beforehand), and probably enjoyed it all the more for that: this is froth, but enjoyable froth.
    In fact while the surface of the film is frothy entertainment, there is also a mild satire of the mess that Spain is currently in underneath - the disclaimer at the start of the film saying that this is a work of fiction should be taken with a pinch of salt (the names may have been changed but events on the ground have a basis in reality), as Maria Delgado writes: 'The terms "recession" or "economic crisis" are conspicuously absent from the film, but the Guadiana plotline offers pertinent comment on a society where patronage, politics and public administration are inextricably interwoven' (2013: 40). I guess how much of that undercurrent to the film that you pick up on is dependent on how aware you are of Spanish current affairs.
    Delgado also draws parallels with A Midsummer Night's Dream ('magical makeovers are matched by erotic gameplay' (2013: 38)) and the Valencia cocktail (dosed with mescaline) stands in for the love potion. I like that reading because I think the film can function as a dreamy in-between world - after the Banderas/Cruz prologue the camera closes in on the engine turbine rotating, like milk in black coffee, a kind of hypnotic effect that perhaps signals that what follows is not 'real'. Certainly, up in the clouds, circling with no apparent destination, the passengers are suspended from reality and acting out a farce (signalled by the theatrical red curtains that divide the space) - a diversion for the crew as much as anything else (the 'public' telephone delivering instalments of a soap opera, or glimpses of other possible films).
    I've seen remarks comparing the film to Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios ('a male version') but actually the style of comedy lacks the sophistication of that film and instead harks back to the crude and scatological humour of Almodóvar's very early films such as Pepi, Luci, Bom and Laberinto de pasiones. That kind of humour is not to everyone's taste (those latter two films are not among my favourites) but I think that a lot depends on the characters (and actors) delivering the lines - the air stewards (played by Cámara, Areces, and Arévalo) are written and performed with affection and I think they're probably destined to be regarded as 'classic' Almodóvar characters in much the same way that Agrado (Antonia San Juan) became the standout of Todo sobre mi madre. The dance sequence to The Pointer Sisters' 'I'm So Excited', a longer sequence than is in the trailer, made me cry with laughter -I don't know that any further recommendation is necessary. If I come back to the film again later, I think I'll look a bit more at the actors / performances involved and the side stories -for example, the Ricardo Galán strand in which an actor drives one of his exes mad and another leaves him in order to maintain her sanity has obvious links to Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, but Blanca Suárez's Ruth (in her floral sundress) also cuts a Kika-ish dash through proceedings (also in relation to this plotline: can I ask someone, but Almodóvar in particular, to give Paz Vega another decent lead role in something - she only has a few minutes here but you forget all else while she is onscreen).
    In short, if you go expecting an Almodóvarian dramedy, you will probably be 'disappointed', but if you want a giggle, then the current band of chicos Almodóvar will entertain you.


References:
Delgado, M. (2013) - 'Wings of Desire', Sight & Sound, May, pp.36-38, 40.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Ten Spanish Films Due to Arrive in 2013


   Truth be told, I can't say for certain that all of these ten films will be released in Spain in 2013 - at least two of them have yet to go into production, and the Spanish film industry is currently more than a little precarious due to Spain's uncertain economic state.
    In the December issue of Academia, the official magazine of the Spanish Film Academy [Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España], they highlighted the impact of the Spanish government's decision to disband the existing funding structures without putting anything in their place: of the 51 films that had been announced in January 2012, only 26 had actually been made by the end of the year. Another decision by the government will also be making an impact: in September the tax on 'entertainment' (which includes cinema tickets) jumped from 8% to 21% overnight (an increase that cinemas are unable to absorb, and so ticket prices are going up). The film industry (and theatre, museum, and arts bodies generally) has been arguing that 'culture' should be protected and is petitioning for the tax to go down to 10%, but in the last quarter of 2012 admissions were already reported to be down on the same period from last year - the year end box office statistics will be even more contentious than usual (early reports suggest that Spanish cinema has managed to increase its market share, but that admissions are down overall).
   So these are worrying times for Spanish cinema, but the films / projects listed below point to a rich variety of work still being made - and on a more positive note, the January 2013 issue of Academia lists a fresh slate of films going into production in 2013. As with the previous post, if a film does not yet have an official English language title, I've put a translation of the Spanish title in square brackets.

Ayer no termina nunca / [Yesterday Never Ends] (dir. Isabel Coixet)
Cast: Javier Cámara, Candela Peña.
Coixet is being deliberately secretive about the plot (Peña has said that it's the first time she has had to sign a confidentiality agreement for a film), so all I really know is that it is set in 2017 and revolves around a breakdown in the relationship between the characters played by Cámara and Peña. [no images as yet].



Caníbal / [Cannibal] (dir. Manuel Martín Cuenca)
Cast: Antonio de la Torre.
Tagline: Love is insatiable. De la Torre plays Carlos, a tailor of good standing in Granada, whose only passions are working and eating - but he's not exactly conventional: he's a cannibal. One day he encounters the twin sister of a woman he has already devoured... The project has been described as a meeting of Hitchcock and Buñuel, which is an ambitious claim but La mitad de Óscar (Manuel Martín Cuenca, 2011) was in my 2011 top 5 (it also featured De la Torre, but only in a small role) so I'm prepared to be impressed. 



Guernica, 33 días / Guernica, 33 Days (dir. Carlos Saura)
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bárbara Goenaga
The story of Picasso's (Banderas) iconic painting, Guernica, and his love affair with photographer Dora Maar (Paltrow). This was one of the films that Academia says was delayed due to the financial problems of the film industry but it does now look set to go into production this year and will reunite Saura with producer Elías Querejeta (who produced his films in the 1960s and 1970s). 



La gran familia española / My Family and Other Hooligans (dir. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo)
Cast: Quim Gutiérrez, Antonio de la Torre, Miquel Fernández, Roberto Álamo, Patrick Criado, Verónica Echegui, Alicia Rubio.
Comedy. A family of five brothers come together for the wedding of the youngest, which unfortunately happens to coincide with Spain reaching the World Cup final. Sánchez Arévalo's often have family relationships at their core -expect tears and a lot of laughter- and here most of his de-facto repertory company / film family are reunited again (minus Raúl Arévalo, who was working with Almodóvar). The film has a Youtube channel, so a trailer will probably appear there soon. Due for release in Spain in September.





Las brujas de Zugarramurdi / Witching and Bitching (dir. Álex de la Iglesia)
Cast: Carmen Maura, Carolina Bang, Terele Pavez, Mario Casas, Hugo Silva.
Comedy. Two thieves (Casas and Silva) stage a robbery and make a run for France with two policemen (Pepón Nieto and Secun de la Rosa) in hot pursuit. Before they reach the border they cut through a forest in Zugarramurdi and find themselves placed under a curse by local witches (Maura, Bang, and Pavez).... Álex de la Iglesia has been tweeting photos from the set (@alexdelaiglesia) and it looks like we're back to another gallery of grotesques after the relative normality of La chispa de la vida.




Los amantes pasajeros / I'm So Excited! (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
Cast: Javier Cámara, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Areces, Cecilia Roth, Jose María Yazpik, Antonio de la Torre, Hugo Silva, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Lola Dueñas, Guillermo Toledo and cameos by Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, and Paz Vega.
Comedy. Passengers and crew face a life-threatening situation on a flight to Mexico City. Candid confessions and musical interludes (the teaser trailer sees Cámara, Arévalo and Areces dancing in formation to the Pointer Sisters) help them keep fear of death at bay. A return to the kind of comedy Almodóvar was known for in the 1980s, the film is released in Spain in March and should be out in the UK in May. 





Los últimos días / [The Last Days] (dir. Álex & David Pastor)
Cast: Quim Gutiérrez, Jose Coronado, Marta Etura. 
Thriller. The film takes place six weeks after 'The Panic' wherein humans suddenly became agoraphobic and are now unable to go in the open air. As nature reclaims the city, Marc (Gutiérrez) attempts to travel across Barcelona to find his girlfriend (Etura). The trailer looks good.  


Murieron por encima de sus posibilidades /  [They Died Beyond Their Means] (dir. Isaki Lacuesta)
Cast: Albert Plà, Jordi Vilches, Iván Telefunken, Raúl Arévalo, Emma Suárez, Sergi López [imdb also lists Eduard Fernández, Ariadna Gil and Jose Coronado although I haven't seen them mentioned in Spanish reports].
According the writer-director, this will be a black comedy in the style of The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955). Five people damaged by the economic crisis meet by chance in a psychiatrist's waiting room and decide to form a plan to save Spain from financial ruin: to kidnap the director of the Central Bank (Josep Maria Pou). The film uses a flashback structure to show the backstory of each of the five protagonists. The cast list is intriguing and the financial crisis could do with some humour. [no images as yet].


Presentimientos / Premonitions (dir. Santiago Tabernero)
Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Marta Etura, Alfonso Bassave, Irene Escolar.
Thriller. Co-written by Noriega, this sees he and Etura as married couple Félix and Julia, on holiday to patch up their differences. On the night of their arrival they realise that they've forgotten their baby's food - Julia heads out to buy some but on her return becomes involved in an accident and then cannot find the apartment they are renting...Meanwhile Félix receives a phone call telling him that his wife is in a coma. Noriega is always on top form in thrillers and I'm interested to see what kind of writer he is. [no images as yet].




Tesis sobre un homicidio / [Thesis on a Homicide] (dir. Hernán Goldfrid) 
Cast: Ricardo Darín, Alberto Ammann.
Thriller. Argentina-Spain co-production. A law professor (Darín) comes to suspect that one of his best students (Ammann) has committed murder, and got away with it. But as he starts to conduct his own investigation, the case becomes ever more personal and he finds himself heading into a dark place...  It has Ricardo Darín, and thrillers are my favourite genre - so count me in. Trailer