Arrebato – Rapture

I've just about picked my jaw up off the floor. I was not expecting anything like that! That's what happens when you book tickets weeks in advance, then don't check up on what you're going to see. In the pre-screening introduction, I learned that Arrebato was a movie which had immense difficulties in filming, had …

El Amparo

Loved the opening to this film - we spend a good 20 minutes gradually getting to know a group of men, and then set out on the river with them as they head off on a fishing trip. There are the drunken ones who sing annoyingly, the ones who worry too much, the lazy ones, the …

La propera pell – The Next Skin

We first meet troubled teenager Leo causing havoc at his care home, and follow him as he is reunited with his mother after a period of eight years, during which he has been reported as missing. He also has amnesia, and so cannot be sure that the woman he meets is actually his mother, nor help …

Siete días de enero – Seven Days in January 

Siete días de enero begins in a documentary style, with news reels and on-screen text outlining the events which are about to be dramatized in the film. It may seem like a strange choice, telling the audience the important points beforehand, but in reality this would have been for contemporary Spanish audiences little more than a …

Pasaje de vida – Safe Passage (+Q&A)

A Spanish/Argentine co-production which more or less successfully handles leaps of time from the Argentina of the 1970s to present day Spain by some very astute casting and camera shots. Miguel (Miguel Ángel Solá) is visited by his son in hospital; his disorientation and loss of memory due to dementia leave him asking questions about people …

Cien años de perdon – To steal from a thief

The annual VIVA Spanish and Latin American Film Festival swung into life this evening at HOME with a feature and a short, both of which were reminiscent of classic films from decades past, yet which also stood up very firmly in their own right. They are also linked by a theme. TheThe short, Nini, is …