Recommend a movie from Spain.

170+ countries to go? ;)

This is a good thread: What's Your Favorite Non-Anglophone Films?

My favourite Spanish films are:

Blancanieves (2012) (dark retelling of Snow White)
Tell No One (excellent crime drama)
Timecrimes (great low-budget sci-fi)

My favourite Spanish-language but not Spanish films are:

Pain and Glory (brilliant drama about an ageing film director)
Even the Rain (drama about the controversy surrounding a film about Christopher Columbus being made in Bolivia and the impact on the locals)

Please return to let us know what you think of some of the films you choose from these threads. (y)
 
I wouldn't call it fantasy [a little surreal maybe] but I'd shout out for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown [Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios] by Pedro Almodóvar. Soup will never seem the same again...
 
I saw a Silent B&W FILM about a female bull fighter .I think it was a Spanish movie.
 
El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) (1973)--drama
Rec (2007)--found footage horror
El hoyo (The Platform) (2019)--sci-fi horror
Volver (2006)--comedy-drama
 
For something different, I might mention the films of "Paul Naschy" (Jacinto Molina Alvarez) who starred in, and often wrote and directed, a bunch of old-fashioned horror movies. He frequently played a werewolf, but also took on the roles of other monsters and such. I can't call these movies good -- some are stunningly awful, others are so-so -- but they have a certain appeal to those of us with a taste for such things.

I might also mention The House That Screamed (La residencia) (1969) as an effective giallo-style shocker.
 
I'm not too fond of Spanish cinema, but I can recommend The Orphanage (2007) as an effective thriller and The Platform (2020), a Netflix Original social metaphor, and The Skin I Live In 2011. It's about a plastic surgeon who transforms a guy into a woman.
Also, watch REC (2007) ASAP. I know it has been recommended here already, but I cannot stress enough how great this movie is.
 
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Apart from those great films already mentioned I'll give a couple lesser known films and a popular TV show. La lenga de las mariposas is a beautiful little film about the civil war in spain, follows a teacher in a small village in galicia. A lot of good spanish films are about the civil war. Balada triste de trompeta is another one although it's very gruesome comedy that follows a clown that always wanted to be a funny clown but is actually the sad one. It is an allegory of the different political parties in spain during the civil war. Something that has been very big in Spain more recently is La casa de papel (or Money Heist) the first season is really fantastic but it kinda drops off a bit after the second one. I'm sure you can guess the topic from the titles.
 
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AlexH said:
What's so good about [Rec]? It was okay at best for me, but then again, I don't seem to like all that many horror films.


That must be the film a also known as Blancanieves. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
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REC shows that we still have room for good zombie films. It's been the best zombie movie for many years, only rivaled by Train to Busan (2016). It's effective in its 80 minutes, much more than those hollywood 120+ minutes bombs. The found footage camera inside that cramped space is claustrophobic. And the final scene... THE final scene.
I'm a horror geek so I'm a suspect to talk about this :LOL:

 
alexvss said:
REC shows that we still have room for good zombie films. It's been the best zombie movie for many years, only rivaled by Train to Busan (2016). It's effective in its 80 minutes, much more than those hollywood 120+ minutes bombs. The found footage camera inside that cramped space is claustrophobic. And the final scene... THE final scene.
I'm a horror geek so I'm a suspect to talk about this :LOL:

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I'm still not sold! I found what were supposed to be scary parts funny. I wonder if part of the appeal of horror films is wanting to be scared. The best zombie film I've seen (by far) is One Cut of the Dead. It's more a comedy than horror though and you have to watch the first 45 minutes, which can seem a bit weird and slow at times, without giving anything away!
 
Juliana said:
@Dave Vicks If you're including Spanish-language but not Spanish (it's Mexican), and if you like magical realism and are ok with romance, Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water For Chocolate) is absolutely gorgeous.
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If we're really going with this then there'd be tons of great movies to watch, maybe for a lifetime :LOL: Especially Argentinian movies. They make great art in that country.

AlexH said:
I'm still not sold! I found what were supposed to be scary parts funny. I wonder if part of the appeal of horror films is wanting to be scared. The best zombie film I've seen (by far) is One Cut of the Dead. It's more a comedy than horror though and you have to watch the first 45 minutes, which can seem a bit weird and slow at times, without giving anything away!
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I found One Cut of the Dead to be... OK. But it's not the best zombie movie I've seen, not by a long shot, even if we're considering funny zombie movies. I'd say Juan de los Muertos and Shawn of the Dead (both Dawn of the dead satires, I just realized) are both better.

"I wonder if part of the appeal of horror films is wanting to be scared". I wouldn't say wanting, but expecting.

"I found what were supposed to be scary parts funny." I understand that. There's a friend of mine who's absolutely terrified of Horror stories, but he finds The Exorcist funny.
 
Accion Mutante. An OTT nihilistic satirical SF thriller. A bit different from your average SF movie. The same director also did a film called something like 10,000 Bullets, set in an abandoned spagetti western film set, which I really enjoyed.

Watch anything by Pedro Almodovar. Some of his films have been mentioned in this thread already. All are worth watching.
 
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