Cinecharla: Pedro and Pan
I'm teaching a film course this semester: Representation and Reality in Spanish Cinema. We like sexy titles around here, although I probably could have pimped this one up a little. At any rate, since my work on Leopoldo Alas and the Darwinian Revolution doesn't really blog all that well, I thought I might share some of my thoughts on this, a most accessible and Netflixable subject. There are only so many things a Spanish professor can offer as a public service.
We've discussed the Pedro Almodóvar oevre in class, highlighting ¿¡Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! (What Have I Done to Deserve This?!?, 1984) and Volver (2006), though we also watched some clips of La ley del deseo (Law of Desire, 1983, not for the faint of heart) and Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1987, romptacular!).
¿¡Qué he hecho yo...!! and Volver have a lot in common, despite the twenty year gap and fairly distinct subject matter (as I pointed out on this review I wrote of Volver, which, ahem, I
assigned to the class), and lend themselves to the film enthusiast who wants a quick and dirty introduction to Almodóvar, especially "serious" Almodóvar. This is the Pedro who kills off characters with a sharp blow to the head with a leg of ham, while also delving into the isolation and, as one student put it, 'me against the world' sensation felt especially by women as Spain transitioned from a divided post-dictatorship nation just scraping by economically to a newly rejuvenated European nation, with all the attendant issues of immigration, flight from the countryside, and domestic unrest that come with it.
Next up was our section on Spanish films from the 1950s and 1960s, none of which you can find on Netflix, which is a shame. I've mentioned to my class my desire to remake the 1965 allegorical war movie La caza (dir. Carlos Saura) into a Hollywood blockbuster, starring Matt Damon and Harrison Ford, and changing the ending so that the rabbits win. My class seems eye-rollingly unimpressed with the project (but some of them come to class in their pajamas, so, really, how much can you trust them?).
Right now we've been studying the Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's movies, including El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth, 2006) and El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone, 2001). Both of these films are Spain/Mexico co-productions, with a decidedly ideological take on the Spanish Civil War and postwar conflicts. They're also horror/thriller/suspense/fantasy movies, which is a departure from the aforementioned allegorical war movie, although -- surprisingly -- there's some commonality there, too. Both of these films rise above their Hollywood trappings to sustain discussions on what determines a film's nationality as well as what del Toro's signature interweaving of fantasy and reality lends to the movies. I'm not a big fan of scary movies -- I had to watch The Orphanage in my office in the middle of the day with the lights on -- but these two are relatively tame by American horror standards, and worth seeing.
Coming Attractions: More ham!
We've discussed the Pedro Almodóvar oevre in class, highlighting ¿¡Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! (What Have I Done to Deserve This?!?, 1984) and Volver (2006), though we also watched some clips of La ley del deseo (Law of Desire, 1983, not for the faint of heart) and Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1987, romptacular!).
¿¡Qué he hecho yo...!! and Volver have a lot in common, despite the twenty year gap and fairly distinct subject matter (as I pointed out on this review I wrote of Volver, which, ahem, I
assigned to the class), and lend themselves to the film enthusiast who wants a quick and dirty introduction to Almodóvar, especially "serious" Almodóvar. This is the Pedro who kills off characters with a sharp blow to the head with a leg of ham, while also delving into the isolation and, as one student put it, 'me against the world' sensation felt especially by women as Spain transitioned from a divided post-dictatorship nation just scraping by economically to a newly rejuvenated European nation, with all the attendant issues of immigration, flight from the countryside, and domestic unrest that come with it.Next up was our section on Spanish films from the 1950s and 1960s, none of which you can find on Netflix, which is a shame. I've mentioned to my class my desire to remake the 1965 allegorical war movie La caza (dir. Carlos Saura) into a Hollywood blockbuster, starring Matt Damon and Harrison Ford, and changing the ending so that the rabbits win. My class seems eye-rollingly unimpressed with the project (but some of them come to class in their pajamas, so, really, how much can you trust them?).
Right now we've been studying the Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's movies, including El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth, 2006) and El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone, 2001). Both of these films are Spain/Mexico co-productions, with a decidedly ideological take on the Spanish Civil War and postwar conflicts. They're also horror/thriller/suspense/fantasy movies, which is a departure from the aforementioned allegorical war movie, although -- surprisingly -- there's some commonality there, too. Both of these films rise above their Hollywood trappings to sustain discussions on what determines a film's nationality as well as what del Toro's signature interweaving of fantasy and reality lends to the movies. I'm not a big fan of scary movies -- I had to watch The Orphanage in my office in the middle of the day with the lights on -- but these two are relatively tame by American horror standards, and worth seeing.
Coming Attractions: More ham!
posted by SJB at 2:32 PM
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