pdx3525
Joined Dec 2004
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Reviews22
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Rafael Gonzalez (Guillermo Toledo), is a salesman in the ladies section of a fashionable department store in Madrid who has it all: good looks, a sharp wardrobe, and a confident, brash manner that allows him to get his way with women and in the workplace.
Rafael has clear goals, too, the most important of which is to lead a "perfect life," and little patience for anybody who settles for less. Such a proud man, of course, is perfectly set up to take a fall and Rafael plunges very far indeed in this hilarious black comedy by Spanish director Alexis de la Iglesia.
Rafael's slide begins when a hated rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varlea), wins a coveted promotion. An argument follows and Don Antonio ends up dead. Rafael's role in the accident goes undetected by the police only because Lourdes (Monica Cevera), an unattractive coworker he has long ignored, helps dispose of the corpse.
Lourdes assistance comes with a price. She has long carried a torch for Rafael and uses the threat of police exposure to get her own "perfect life." She insists Rafael become her lover, meet her parents, and marry her. In short, Rafael is about to be trapped in the kind of dull, mediocre existence he has always mocked.
Watching Rafael try to escape from the world Lourdes plans for him raising children in a badly decorated suburban apartment filled with clown paintings and spending evenings collecting ugly miniatures -- provides lots of laughter and entertainment and plenty of insights into contemporary Spain. In the end, each character gets what they want but as usually happens in life itself there is a clear winner and loser. Highly recommended.
9/10
Rafael has clear goals, too, the most important of which is to lead a "perfect life," and little patience for anybody who settles for less. Such a proud man, of course, is perfectly set up to take a fall and Rafael plunges very far indeed in this hilarious black comedy by Spanish director Alexis de la Iglesia.
Rafael's slide begins when a hated rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varlea), wins a coveted promotion. An argument follows and Don Antonio ends up dead. Rafael's role in the accident goes undetected by the police only because Lourdes (Monica Cevera), an unattractive coworker he has long ignored, helps dispose of the corpse.
Lourdes assistance comes with a price. She has long carried a torch for Rafael and uses the threat of police exposure to get her own "perfect life." She insists Rafael become her lover, meet her parents, and marry her. In short, Rafael is about to be trapped in the kind of dull, mediocre existence he has always mocked.
Watching Rafael try to escape from the world Lourdes plans for him raising children in a badly decorated suburban apartment filled with clown paintings and spending evenings collecting ugly miniatures -- provides lots of laughter and entertainment and plenty of insights into contemporary Spain. In the end, each character gets what they want but as usually happens in life itself there is a clear winner and loser. Highly recommended.
9/10
Ada Falcon was a talented and popular Argentine tango singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She performed with the country's best musicians, starred on national radio shows, and appeared in movies shown across Latin America. In 1942, however, Falcon abruptly left show business and never performed again.
Before dropping out of sight, she led a glamorous, lavish life and reportedly counted tango star Carlos Gardel and Argentine composer Francisco Canero among her lovers. Falcon's green eyes fascinated both men and her fans, too. Those same eyes inspired the tango that serves as the title of this documentary by Argentine filmmaker Sergio Wolf.
Falcon's disappearance and the rumors surrounding it intrigue Wolf and he sets out to learn more about the singer's career and her later life. With a cameraman in tow, Wolf visits the theaters and radio studios where Falcon once sang and the homes and cities where she lived. He also talks to musicians, neighbors, and others who knew Falcon and includes clips from her movies and concerts.
This nostalgic and heartfelt effort will likely enthrall both Argentines of a certain age and hardcore tango fans of the period. Others may find the subject too obscure, but they will certainly be fascinated by Wolf's discovery of how Falcon spent the last half of a very long life that ended with entombment in Recoleta, the most famous and exclusive cemetery in Buenos Aires.
7/10
Before dropping out of sight, she led a glamorous, lavish life and reportedly counted tango star Carlos Gardel and Argentine composer Francisco Canero among her lovers. Falcon's green eyes fascinated both men and her fans, too. Those same eyes inspired the tango that serves as the title of this documentary by Argentine filmmaker Sergio Wolf.
Falcon's disappearance and the rumors surrounding it intrigue Wolf and he sets out to learn more about the singer's career and her later life. With a cameraman in tow, Wolf visits the theaters and radio studios where Falcon once sang and the homes and cities where she lived. He also talks to musicians, neighbors, and others who knew Falcon and includes clips from her movies and concerts.
This nostalgic and heartfelt effort will likely enthrall both Argentines of a certain age and hardcore tango fans of the period. Others may find the subject too obscure, but they will certainly be fascinated by Wolf's discovery of how Falcon spent the last half of a very long life that ended with entombment in Recoleta, the most famous and exclusive cemetery in Buenos Aires.
7/10
"The Seven Madmen" draws on two novels by Roberto Arlt to show us the opulent and seedy words of Buenos Aires in the 1920s. Erdosain (Alfredo Alcon) is a failed inventor who allows himself be pressured into giving up his dreams, marrying a woman he doesn't know, and taking up a job as a bill collector that he grows to hate. A weak man, Erdosain can't no to anyone, including an astrologer who enlists him as one of seven members in a secret anarchist society that sets out to destroy the Plaza de Mayo, Argentina's religious, commercial and government center.
Much of the movie takes place in the working class rooming houses, brothels and tango bars of the period's and it also shows us the era's political and criminal underworlds. Although this a well produced picture with good costumes and sets, there is nothing glamorous about the places shown or the people who frequent them. Erdosain's rented rooms are as sad and depressing as the life he leads that results in his embrace of violent anarchism.
Look for good supporting performances by Norma Aleandro and Hector Alterio, two of Argentina's most famous actors. Highly recommended.
8/10
Much of the movie takes place in the working class rooming houses, brothels and tango bars of the period's and it also shows us the era's political and criminal underworlds. Although this a well produced picture with good costumes and sets, there is nothing glamorous about the places shown or the people who frequent them. Erdosain's rented rooms are as sad and depressing as the life he leads that results in his embrace of violent anarchism.
Look for good supporting performances by Norma Aleandro and Hector Alterio, two of Argentina's most famous actors. Highly recommended.
8/10