EL NUEVO CINE ESPAÑOL

Carmen Maura gives one of her best performances in this most recent hit of Alex de la Iglesia, one of Spanish cinema’s truest “bad boys.” (Acción Mutante, El Día de la Bestia, Muertos de Risa).Maura plays Julia, a real estate agent who, in the course of her work, discovers 300 million pesetas stashed under the tiles of a dead man’s apartment. And that’s not all: there’s also a winning lottery ticket that’s never been redeemed. It’s like a dream come true, until Julia discovers that the neighbors of the deceased also seem to have some interest in taking over this hidden fortune. Shot in a florid, grand style, with terrific ensemble performances, La comunidad is de la Iglesia’s version of a thriller for our times. 

Feb. 28. Justino: Un Asesino de la Tercera Edad (Spain, 1995)
In the center of a great bullring, Justino, a bullfighter who deals the coup de grace, receives a standing ovation.It is the afternoon of his retirement; his sixty-two years have forced him to welcome his long-awaited retirement.But his moment of glory is short-lived.Pretty soon he is going to discover a beneficial way to occupy his leisure time without forgetting his former profession.His friendship with Sansoncito,acushionmaker, weaves itself into a strange criminal life.His acts of violence help him to reintegrate into society, instead of marginalizing him.Even though money isn’t his motive, he finds an easy way to obtain it. (Some very graphic scenes.)

March 7. Solas ( Spain, 1997)
With the intention of signing her father into a hospital, María (Ana Fernandez) becomes obliged to share her apartment with her mother (MaríaGaliana), whom she hasn’t seen for years.María lives poorly in a rough neighborhood of Seville, working for a cleaning service, and she is pregnant by a truck-driver who doesn’t want any kind of commitment.This mother-daughter relationship will bring to life lost feelings and familiar ghosts.

March 14. Lista de  Espera( Cuba, 2000)
In a bus terminal in the center of Cuba a group of passengers waits, without finding a way to get on any bus.All the buses that pass by the station are full. Their only chance is to repair an old vehicle belonging to the terminal.Nevertheless, they ruin it permanently.The administrator of the facility sees no solution and proposes to close the terminal.Still, a group of passengers decides to stay to fix the bus. Between them a strange and tender story is woven.

March 21. El  Sur (Spain, 1983)
In “The Seagull” , a house with an weeathervane, in the outskirts of a northern Spanish city, live Agustín, doctor and clairvoyant; Julia, his wife, a schoolteacher paid-back after the civil war; and Estrella, their child.One day, Estrella discovers something that makes her suspect that there was another woman in her father’s life. From this point forth, life in “The Seagull” changes drastically.

March 28. Abre Los Ojos ( Spain, 1998)
In this steam, intriguingly complex, psychological thriller, the line between reality and fantasy is hopelessly blurred.César tries to make sense of his life after a car crash leaves his once-handsome face grotesquely disfigured.After he is placed into a psychiatric penitentiary for a murder he doesn’t remember committing, César’s only hope is to delve into the depths of his subconscious mind where the answer to ending his living nightmare lies in his dreams. 

April 11. Calle 54 (Spain 2000)
A musical documentary about Latin Jazz in the tradition of The Buena Vista Social Club, with appearances by GatoBarbieri,Chano Dominguez, and Tito Puente, among others.Chosen among the ten best films of the year by the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsday. When the film was shown in the Toronto Film Festival, Elvis Mitchell wrote in the New York Times: “It’s so good that they could have shown it everyday of the festival”.

April 18. (Los Amantes del Círculo  Polar) ( Spain, 1998)
A story of a passionate but secret love, told by both of its protagonists, Ana and Otto, from eight years of age until twenty-five.Everything begins in 1980, when upon being dismissedfrom school, both children run off for different reasons.From this afternoon, in which the world escapes them both, the lives of Ana and Otto will cross paths in a circle that will begin to close seventeen years later in Finland, in the Arctic Circle itself.