10 unusual Spanish films that will take your breath away

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Contemporary classics from Alejandro Amenabar and Pedro Almodovar, as well as the work of distinctive and daring young directors.

1. Open your eyes

• Spain, France, Italy, 1997.
• Mysticism, drama, thriller.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

The wealthy ladies' man Cesar leads a completely luxurious lifestyle, but everything changes dramatically after he falls in love with Sofia, his best friend's girlfriend. Through the fault of the previous lover, obsessed with jealousy, the hero gets into an accident, in which he survives, but receives severe facial injuries. Now his life is like a nightmare in which dream is confused with reality.

Few people know that "Vanilla Sky" with Tom Cruise is really just a remake, while the original was directed by the Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. The most interesting thing is that Penelope Cruz also starred in the Hollywood version, and she played the same role as in the original.

2. Everything about my mother

• Spain, France, 1999.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 101 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

Manuela alone brings up her sixteen-year-old son, who unexpectedly dies under the wheels of a car. After reading the boy's diary, the inconsolable heroine learns that he, more than anything, wanted to know who his father was. And she goes to bohemian Barcelona to find the prodigal parent.

The work of director and screenwriter Pedro Almodovar won not only many European awards, but also the Oscar and Golden Globe awards for the best film in a foreign language. It is not surprising, because early Almodovar was revealed here in all its glory: here there is kitsch, bright colors, and temperamental marginal heroes.

3. Sunny Mondays

• Spain, France, Italy, 2002.
• Social drama.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

In the center of the plot are a few friends who have been left without work. Two years after they were fired, they still have failed to get their lives back on track. And melancholy, like a swamp, sucks in the heroes more and more every day.

Director Fernando Leon de Aranoa conveyed a non-standard look at sunny Spain, and Javier Bardem, who later starred again with the same director in the biographical drama Escobar, became the real gem of the film.

4. The sea inside

• Spain, France, Italy, 2004.
• Biographical drama.
• Duration: 121 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

The film tells the real story of the paralyzed Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who for many years tried to get the right to euthanasia. He once broke his neck while swimming and since then dreamed of only one thing - to die in peace.

In his fourth full-length film, director Alejandro Amenabar proved himself to be a great storyteller, and the leading actor Javier Bardem showed miracles of transformation: the 34-year-old actor was made up so that he looked 20 years older.

5. Return

• Spain, 2006.
• Tragicomedy, mysticism, drama.
• Duration: 121 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

A poor woman Raimunda lives with her unemployed alcoholic husband and teenage daughter and has no idea that her world will soon turn upside down. The situation becomes very strange after the deceased mother of the heroine returns in the form of a ghost to solve family problems.

"The Return" is often called the most "female" film of Almodovar - which, however, is already close to this topic. After all, the director shot all his favorites in this film: Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas, Blanca Portillo.

But the real gem of the caste was the incomparable Penelope Cruz - the constant star of the works of the late Almodovar. By the way, the role of the strong and strong-willed Raimunda brought the actress, in addition to being honored in Cannes, an Oscar nomination.

6. Shelter

• Spain, Mexico, 2007.
• Mysticism, horror.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

Laura, no longer young, but still a beautiful woman, returns with her husband and adopted son to the abandoned orphanage where she once grew up. But everything goes awry: the boy first tells her about the creepy ghostly children, one of whom wears a bag on his head, and then disappears altogether in the midst of the holiday.

The debut film of the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona traces the influence of his longtime friend and part-time producer of the film - the Mexican Guillermo del Toro, the main cinematographer of our time. That did not prevent the project from receiving accolades and seven national film awards "Goya".

7. The skin I live in

• Spain, 2011.
• Body horror, fantasy, thriller, melodrama.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

The talented plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard is showing his colleagues his new development - artificial skin grown in the laboratory. The management, however, immediately orders him to close the immoral project, but the doctor is in no hurry to get upset. After all, in the basement of his house lives a girl named Vera, made entirely of "advanced" material.

For Pedro Almodovar (at that time already a mature master), this work with Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya in the lead roles became a kind of genre experiment. The Skin I Live In is both a thriller, noir and detective story, with most of the film's imagery taken from the black and white French horror film Eyes Without a Face.

8. Live easily with closed eyes

• Spain, 2013.
• Comedy drama.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 0.

It's 1966. Kind Antonio, an English teacher and also a passionate fan of The Beatles, decides to go in search of John Lennon in the hope of persuading him not to leave the group. On the way, the teacher acquires fellow travelers: a young girl, Belen, who escaped from a boarding school, and a teenage rebel Huangho.

The road movie directed by David Truuba was very popular with critics, received many national awards and even was nominated for an Oscar. At first glance, this is a very light, cloudless movie. But if you remember that the action of the film takes place during the reign of the Spanish dictator Franco, the events of the picture will immediately appear in a different light.

9. Invisible guest

• Spain, 2016.
• Crime thriller, detective.
• Duration: 106 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The influential businessman Adrian Doria is accused of murdering his mistress, and then he hires Virginia Goodman, the best lawyer in the city. True, Virginia is no longer young, and for her this is the last thing in her career. But she's not going to lose it. Only when the lawyer comes to Adrian's house to work out a line of defense, such details become clear, which it is better to keep silent about.

A very interesting experiment from director and screenwriter Oriol Paolo with a chamber narration in the spirit of Agatha Christie's detectives. Moreover, after being released on the streaming platform Netflix, the film received international recognition and was even re-shot three times. By the way, critics also compared the previous work of Paolo "The Body" with the works of the writer, as well as with the works of the genius of suspense Alfred Hitchcock.

10. Platform

• Spain, 2019.
• Social parable, horror, fantasy.
• Duration: 94 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 0.

A young man named Goreng wakes up in a multi-level prison, consisting of many cells located one below the other. A platform with food passes through the central hole once a day, but the lower the prisoners are, the less chance they have to eat. The hero will have to spend a month with his neighbor Trimagashi on the 48th floor, and at the end of this period they may end up on any tier of the tower (perhaps even more unsuitable for life).

Thanks to Netflix, Haldera Gastela-Urrutia's quiet festival film has been watched by a record number of viewers around the world. And critics, trying to understand what they associate with this distinctive chamber horror, recalled Vincenzo Natali's “Cube” and even “Mom!” In their reviews. Darren Aronofsky.