Mar Adentro

(The Sea Inside)

Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Starring: Javier Bardem, Lola Dueñas

Country: Spain

Subtitle: English, Spanish

Euthanasia is not an easy topic for a movie treatment, however Amenábar (Abre Los Ojos, The Others) is able to do it with as much objectivity as one can with an issue so controversial. Javier Bardem also works his usual genius. While the story is based on real life, the romance between Bardem and the women of the story seem a bit exaggerated. However, all is forgiven at the end when we see powerful orchestration between Amenábar and Bardem. I waited a while to see this movie because of the seriousness of the subject matter, but would definitely recommend it.

Semen - una historia de amor

(Semen - a story of love)

Director: Daniela Féjerman and Inés París

Starring: Ernesto Alterio, Leticia Dolera

Country: Spain

Subtitle: English

Despite the name, this is truly a charming, if not slightly strange, romantic comedy from Spain. Serafin (Alterio) is a doctor at a fertility clinic who falls in love with a free-spirited trapeze artists (Dolera). Through circumstance he has no choice but to use his own sperm in a procedure to fertilize Dolera. Played by Alterio's real life father, Serafin's father provide a nice counterpoint to the couple by playing a weatherman who's life has fallen into bed-ridden self-pity and depression. Likely because of its female director, this movie takes a subject that could have been done really creepy and turns it into almost a Spanish-male version of Amélie Poulain.

Días de Fútbol

(Soccer Days)

Director: David Seranno

Starring: Alberto San Juan, Natalia Verbeke

Country: Spain

Subtitle: English, Español

From the same director as El Otro Lado de La Cama, this movie tells the story of group of guys in Madrid who form a soccer team to escape the comically bad turns in their personal lives. The beautiful Natalia Verbeke provides a humorous counterpoint to San Juan and the gang he leads. This movie is very typical of the comedies from Spain, which generally compare to likes of Hollywood's Old School or Wedding Crashes. It's higher-brow than Mexico's El Chavo, but still classifiably a "stupid comedy" but still charming.

Por Si No Te Vuelvo a Ver

(If I Never See You Again)

Director: Juan Pablo Villaseñor

Starring: Jorge Galván, Leticia Huijara

Country: Mexico

Subtitle: English

This charming Mexican comedy tells the story of a quintet of elderly men who escape from a nursing home in hopes of love, music, and adventure. It is no great work of new Mexican cinema, but neither is it the slap-stick humor Mexico is regrettably known for. This movie is okay for all audiences, and both young and old will find it appealing.

Abre Los Ojos

(Open Your Eyes)
Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Starring: Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Najwa Nimri

Country: Spain

Subtitles: English

Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) is the classic Spanish film behind the popular US remake, Vanilla Sky, also staring Cruz along with Tom Cruise. While the Cruise feature is highly stylized in its cinematographic approach, Abre Los Ojos is more theatrical, relying on more dramatic elements to move the film, such as more robust imagery involving masks. Where as in Vanilla Sky, Cruz's character was a dancer, in this version she plays an actress who moonlights as a park mime, emphasizing the superficiality of the protagonist's relationship with her. The two films both stand alone and are well worth seeing, however audiences expecting the more hallucinogenic, rock'n'roll style of Vanilla Sky will find the much lower budger Abre Los Ojos slightly bland.