Talk to Her [2002]

Pedro Almodovar, who, like Rituparno Ghosh, is often known as a women’s director, has for once made a movie for the male counterparts with Talk to Her. Almodovar certainly knows how to turn a tale of offbeat, curious relationships into a stirring, even haunting ode to love, longing and loneliness. The movie follows the development of an unlikely friendship between a male nurse and a journalist – the former in silent unidirectional love with a comatose patient he is taking care of with singular devotion and the latter in a burgeoning relationship with a famous female bullfighter which comes to a screeching halt when she gets maimed on one not-so-lucky day at office. The movie is difficult to explain, especially in the kind of concise reviews that I write, as it is less about what transpires on screen vis-à-vis what goes within, unsaid and implied. Hence, though we may be able to seemingly distinguish between the real and surreal, the two, in essence, blend and get juxtaposed quite fluidly, thus creating a dream-like world, albeit comprising of undeniably physical people. The acting is natural without going overboard, thus ensuring that the complex emotional quotient at interplay between the characters manages to be powerful in its silent impacts. And thanks to the classical structure of the movie, the pathos in the characters and their interactions is all the more somber and perceptible.





Director: Pedro Almodovar
Genre: Drama/Romantic Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

The Spirit of the Beehive [1973]

Spanish director Victor Erice, like his American counterpart Terrence Mallick, is a deeply enigmatic filmmaker (he has made just three movies in his entire career!). However, for me, the similarity doesn’t end there; his legendary debut feature The Spirit of the Beehive, through its incredible visual beauty, ravishing silhouettes, dreamy landscapes, sparse dialogues and languid pacing, heavily reminded me of Mallick’s spellbinding first film Badlands. Set towards the end of Franco’s iron-hand reign, a turbulent period that continues to be the source for such powerful films like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, the movie is a lyrical lamentation on lost innocence. Ana and Isabel (amazingly performed by Ana Torrent and Isabel Telleria, respectively) are two young girls who happen to watch James Whale’s Frankenstein at a traveling film show. The movie casts a profound impact on young Ana’s mind as she gradually gets enmeshed in a make-believe world far separated from reality. Meanwhile their parents, too, dwell in their own severely cocooned existences, oblivious of the world around them. This movie still continues to be one of the most moody and haunting depictions of that wondrous yet painfully short-lived time in one's life called ‘childhood’.





Director: Victor Erice
Genre: Drama/Surreal Drama/Fantasy
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

Bad Education (La Mala Educación) [2004]

This is my first foray into Pedro Almodóvar’s work, and I feel I couldn’t have chosen for a better introduction to the celebrated Spanish auteur’s world. In parts a film noir, in parts a poetic tale of broken friendships and fractured love, and in parts an irreverent, complex and cerebral observation of the darker forces of human nature, Bad Education is a work that befits the filmmaker’s stature. The film has the highly talented Mexican actor Gael García Bernal as a struggling actor who, one fine day, meets his childhood friend, a famous director, and presents a semi-autobiographical story that he’s written; he also expresses his keen interest in playing the part of the central protagonist – a cross-dressing guy. This simple beginning, however, starts growing graver and more disconcerting with every passing frame as the director delves into themes ranging from loss of innocence and faith to identity crisis and dangerous love. Though, to put it mildly, homosexuality isn’t my favourite subject, Almodovar’s powerful narrative skills, combined with his ability to up the ante with brushstrokes from a colourful palette and yet reinforce the moody atmosphere with apt soundtracks, made watching the movie a captivating experience for me. The acting and characterizations, too, are superb and do complete justice to the twisting plot.

p.s. This happens to be my 200th film review here. Let me raise a small toast to that... Cheers!





Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Neo-Noir/Mystery
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

Sex and Lucia (Lucia y el Sexo) [2001]

Sex and Lucia is in the veins of classic European arthouse movies – it has a very lazy pace, it explores deeply psychoanalytical issues and is unabashedly promiscuous. Anyone watching the movie solely for its erotic content might be in for a jolting; its mind-bending plot where the line between facts and fiction often gets blurred, and its decidedly mournful tone and gloomy atmosphere is quite likely to make the movie a not so pleasing watch for the casual viewers. The tale of a serendipitous love affair between a writer and a waitress soon turns into a fragile journey of self-exploration and desperate albeit futile attempts to come to peace with one’s relationships, memories and existence. The film has employed the use of multiple flashbacks, vivid imageries, natural lightings and complex psychological explorations to bring forth its theme of guilt and isolation. The movie might seem to drag at times, the narrative might be too meandering at occasions, and the acting might not be top-rate; fortunately that is more than made up by Paz Vega who has played the role of Lucia – her passionate performance has made this strikingly attractive lady an actress to look out for.





Director: Julio Medem
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Romantic Drama
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo Del Diablo) [2001]

The ghosts and demons of the real world are far more horrific than their counterparts who are trapped in a metaphysical environment – this is a theme that the supremely talented Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro firmly believes in, and the portrayal of this belief attained marvelous levels in The Devil’s Backbone. This is a movie with extraordinary power and with an immense ability to touch the viewer’s heart despite the unflinching (and brilliantly photographed) onscreen violence. The Spanish Civil War is in full rage; meanwhile, in a school for orphan kids owned and run by a loving patriarch and his incapacitated wife who are in essence rebel sympathizers, some murky secrets are lurking round the shadows. Told through the eyes of a young kid Carlos who has recently been admitted to the school, the movie deftly reveals the whereabouts of Santi, a former student of the school who disappeared the day the “bomb” was dropped. Right from its exquisitely crafted opening monologue on “ghosts”, the fluid narrative manages to engage the viewers with facile ease. Boasting of a series of fine performances, including from all the kids, and comprising of subtle moments of a plethora of human emotions ranging from joy and sorrow to pride, lust and envy, the supernatural thriller is as potent a socio-political statement as captivating it is in purely cinematic terms.






Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Horror/Supernatural Thriller/Gothic Horror/Haunted House Film
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain/Mexico

The Orphanage (El Orphanto) [2007]

Directorial debut of Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona, The Orphanage is an assured venture in the oft-made genre of haunted house tales. Bayona being a protégé of Guillermo Del Toro (incidentally also its producer) – who himself made some fascinating films on the bizarre and the inexplicable like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, the Mexican auteur’s presence is palpable in quite a few scenes of this gothic horror movie. Laura (amazingly performed by the lead actress), who spent her formative years at an orphanage at a pristine god-forsaken location, has returned to the now unoccupied mansion after 30 years, along with her husband and her adopted son Simone. As expected, things soon start turning creepy with the lonely Simone befriending a bunch of invisible kids, and before long downright ugly with his sudden disappearance. Relying more on psychological explorations and deftly executed moments of high shock value, the movie succeeds for the simple reason that at the end of the day it is as much a human story as it is a supernatural one.





Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Genre: Horror/Fantasy/Haunted House Movie/Supernatural/Psychological Thriller
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain