Nico and Dani/Krámpack (2000) - Gay's sexually vibrant, incisive coming-out drama

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The two protagonist friends light cigarettes on this poster for Cesc Gay's Nico and Dani

Nico and Dani are two 17 year-old friends, who live alone in a house in the summer for a period: They find girls, - but one of the two falls for his friend, is forced to face his different sexuality, - plus the fact that his feelings are unreciprocated.

Nico and Dani is written by Tomás Aragay (Truman (2015)) and co-writer/director Cesc Gay (Hotel Room (1998)), based on a play by Jordi Sánchez (Pedralbes Centre (1995)). The original Spanish title refers to a kind of mutual masturbation that the two friends engage in in the film.
Nico and Dani is a refreshing coming-of-age drama with sexual frankness, piercing wistfulness, nice images and outstanding performances. The story is related with wonderful straightforwardness, and it has some especially funny scenes of the ignorance inherent in being young. The film is highly suitable for use in sex education classes.

Watch 2-minutes from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Uncertain - in excess of 372k $
= Uncertain
[Nico and Dani premiered in May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place in Barcelona. The film's Box Office Mojo sheet only covers its North-American and Taiwan releases, of which 370k $ were from North America; the film's earnings in production country Spain and other European markets are missing. It won an award in Cannes. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Gay returned with In the City/En la Ciudad (2003). Fernando Ramallo (Dani) (Between Abril and Julio/Entre Abril y Julio (2002)) returned in 3 shorts and a TV-series before his theatrical return in Algunas Chicas Doblan las Piernas Cuando Hablan (2001); Jordi Vilches (Nico) (La Sagrada Familia (2011, TV-series)) in Warriors/Guerreros (2002). Nico and Dani is certified fresh at 87 % with a 6.62/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Nico and Dani?

The Secret in Their Eyes/El Secreto de Sus Ojos (2009) - Campanella and Sacheri's refined thriller

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+ Best Argentinian Movie of the Year + Best $ Return of the Year: 16.95 times the cost

A rich tapestry of incidents and drama is hinted at in this poster for Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes

  
A newly retired police investigator intends to write a book about the rape and murder case of a 23 year-old beauty, which has haunted him for 25 years. His writing also reopens an old romance.

The Secret in Their Eyes is written by Eduardo Sacheri (Underdogs/Metegol (2013)) and co-writer/co-producer/director/editor Juan José Campanella (The Boy Who Cried Bitch (1991)), adapting Sacheri's novel La Pregunta de Sus Ojos (2005).
It is an excting and good romance thriller with a good deal of welcome humor as well as technical excellence involved: It has a five minute-long chase scene at a packed football stadium in the 1970, which is downright virtuoso. (Cinematography by Félix Monti (Northeast/Nordeste (2005)).)
Periods of The Secret in Their Eyes is so suspenseful, it provokes goosebumps. The story deals with themes of guilt, doubt, judgement - and secrets. It is well-acted - but long; the romance takes center stage in the film's third act, and it never becomes too interesting, which hurts the overall good work.

Related post:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 2 mil. $
Box office: 33.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 16.95 times its cost)
[The Secret in Their Eyes was released 13 August (Argentina) and runs 129 minutes. Shooting took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October - November 2008. The stadium scene reportedly took 3 months of planning, 3 days to shot and the use of 200 extras. If the 2 mil. $ budget is accurate, which seems highly unlikely, the film was completed at an impressively low cost. 11 companies and support bodies were involved in its making. It opened #30 to a 167k $ first weekend in 10 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #14 and in 160 theaters (different weeks), playing for 27 weeks, grossing 6.3 mil. $ (18.6 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market: Biggest was its main production country Argentina with 9.2 mil. $ (27.1 %), 2nd biggest co-producing country Spain with 7.9 mil. $ (23.3 %). At the time of its release, the film became Argentina's 2nd highest-grossing film ever. The film won the Best Foreign Film Oscar for Argentina, the country's second such win, a first for a Latin-American country. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, a César award, a David di Donatello award, a European Film award, won 2/9 Goya award nominations and 13/17 Argentinian Academy awards. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this one. IMDb's users have rated the film into the site's Top 250 at #141, currently sitting between Come and See (1985) and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Campanella returned with episodes in 4 TV-series before his next theatrical film, animation Underdogs (2013). Ricardo Darín (XXY (2007)) returned in The Dancer and the Thief/El Baile de la Victoria (2009). The Secret in Their Eyes is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.74/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Secret in Their Eyes?

The Sea Inside/Mar Adentro (2004) or, Death Wish: Spain

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Javier Bardem looks pensive against a sea surface on this poster for Alejandro Amenábar's The Sea Inside

Following an unfortunate diving accident as a young man, our protagonist is left quadriplegic for 28 years with a wish to die. - But is that for him to decide?

The Sea Inside is written by Mateo Gil (The Laws of Thermodynamics/Las Leyes de la Termodinámica (2018)) and its great Chilean co-writer/co-producer/director/composer/editor Alejandro Amenábar (The Others (2001)). The two tackle a difficult story here, which is the true story of Ramón Sampedro, one which presents the ethical dilemma of euthanasia.
The bedridden state of our hero is cinematically overcome with a handsome, recurring dream of floating. Javier Bardem (Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997)) acts well, - but at some point his character becomes too much for me to take, and the film's idolization of him as a determined, Oscar-worthy paralyzed role becomes too one-sided. It starts getting unclear why he is afforded such enormous care and attention, when his only wish, expressed loudly and often, is to die.
Atheistic, warm advocates of euthanasia may respond with deeper feeling to The Sea Inside than I did.

 

Related post:

 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film with English subtitles here

Cost: 10 mil. €, equaling approximately 11.38 mil. $
Box office: 38.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.38 times its cost)
[The Sea Inside premiered 2 September (Madrid, Spain) and runs 125 minutes. Sampedro's story was also the subject of Condenado a Vivir (2001, TV movie). Shooting took place in Spain, including Madrid, from October - December 2003. The film opened #39 to a 55k $ first weekend in 23 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #29 and in 99 cinemas and grossed 2.1 mil. $ (5.5 % of the total gross). The film's biggest markets were its main production country Spain, where it was a massive hit with a 26.1 mil. $ gross (67.8 %), Germany with 2.1 mil. $ (5.5 %), a bit bigger than its 3rd biggest, North America. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning for Best Foreign Film, and losing Best Makeup to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a César award, won a David di Donatello award, 2/5 European Film award nominations, an Independent Spirit award, 14/15 Goya award nominations, 2 National Board of Review awards, 3 awards at Venice Film Festival and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Amenábar returned with Agora (2009). Bardem returned in Goya's Ghosts (2006). The Sea Inside is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.59/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Sea Inside?

Machuca (2004) - Great personal investment and heart beats behind Wood's riveting coming-of-age drama

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Chilean Movie of the Year + Best Coming-of-Age Movie of the Year + Best Political Movie of the Year  

The three excellent child actors in Andrés Wood's Machuca peak up from, for some reason, a piece of cardboard on this poster for the film

  
Gonzalo is a boy from the better part of the middle class in Santiago, Chile in 1973, when the situation in the country under its Socialist president Salvador Allende becomes so bad that the boy's private school takes in some students from poor backgrounds, - among them a new friend named Machuca.

Machuca is written by Mamoun Hassan (The Good Life/La Buena Vida (2008)), Roberto Brodsky (El Brindis (2007)), Eliseo Altunaga (Between Two Hurricanes/Entre Ciclones (2003)) and its great Chilean co-writer/co-producer/director Andrés Wood (Historias de Fútbol (1997)). It is a film that is auspicious for older children (age 12 and up) and adults alike.
The context is complicated and heated politically, but the core narrative of friendship in spite of outer circumstances, and of life as an 11 year-old, is simple and compelling. Gonzalo, Machuca and Silvana, the girlfriend of Gonzalo, are played with distinguished empathy by Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna (The Magician/El Mago (2014)) and Manuela Martelli (My Last Round/Mi Último Round (2011)), and among the adult actors especially Ernesto Malbran (Sub Terra (2003)) as the idealistic Father McEnroe does a memorable job. 
With very credible staging, the story builds tension steadily; SPOILER the audience member familiar with the period will be able to predict how the school and the boys' friendship will develop towards a very sad precipice.
Machuca powerfully shows the results of excessive political enmity and racism. It is an outstanding film.

 

Related post:

 

Andrés Wood: 2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film with English subtitles here

Cost: 1.7 mil. $
Box office: 3.1 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.82 times its cost)
[Machuca premiered 24 February (Switzerland) and runs 121 minutes. Wood rehearsed with the child amateur actors for 7 months prior to filming. Shooting took place in Santiago, Chile. Wood has stated that shooting took place only on sundays, - due to the small budget. The film opened #73 to a 4k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked the following week at #67, never widened to more theaters and only grossed 26k $ (0.8 % of the total gross). Its biggest markets were production country 2.2 mil. $ (71 %), Spain with 338k $ (10.9 %) and the UK with 213k $ (6.9 %). The film was Chile's official Oscar entry of the year but went unnominated. It was nominated for a Goya award, among other honors. Wood returned with The Good Life/La Buena Vida (2008). Mateluna returned in La Vida Es una Lotería (2002, TV-series), JPT: Justicia para Todos (2004, TV-series) and theatrically in Pega Martín Pega! (2007); Martelli in Like a Crashed Plane/Como un Avión Estrellado (2005)). Machuca is fresh at 89 % with a 7.54/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Machuca?

Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life

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+ Best Spanish Movie of the Year


Penélope Cruz looks magnificent on this Andy Warhol-styled poster for Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces

A film director falls in love with his lead actress and gets monitored by the producer, who is her lover, until they crash in a tragic accident, wherein he loses her along with his sight.

Broken Embraces is told episodically in a very involving editing scheme that ends up by giving us a part of the director's wonderful film in the film, 'Chicas y Maletas', which is a kind of parody of Broken Embraces' real Spanish master writer/co-producer/director Pedro Almodóvar's (Salomé (1978, short)) own Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown/Mujeres al Borde de un Attaque de Nervios (1988).
Broken Embraces is intricate without being elusive; it is sophisticated and made with a viral surplus of energy, with great acting performances, especially from Almodóvar-regulars Lluís Homar (Queens/Reinas (2005)) and Penélope Cruz (Gothika (2003)), who has rarely been more beautiful and sexy than here.
It is a dramatic mystery film strewn with hope, love, life's transitoriness and grandeur. Don't cheat yourself of this experience!
And did I mention that Penélope Cruz looks and acts incredible in it? See for yourself on a couple of pictures here of her in this great film:

Related posts:

Pedro Almodóvar: 2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style

Penelope Cruz doing Marilyn in Los Abrazos Rotos

See some of the beautiful images of Los Abrazos Rotos in its trailer here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 30.9 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.71 times the cost)
[Broken Embraces premiered 17 March (Barcelona, Spain) and runs 128 minutes. Shooting took place in Spain, including Madrid, from May - September 2008. The film opened #30 to a 107k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, the film's 3rd biggest market, where it peaked at #20 and in 202 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5 mil. $ (16.2 % of the total gross). The biggest and 2nd biggest were France with 6.9 mil. $ (22.3%) and the film's home market Spain with 5.7 mil. $ (18.4 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, Cannes' Palme d'Or, won 1/4 European Film award nominations and 1/5 Goya award nominations (Spain's Oscar) among other honors. Almodóvar returned with The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011). Cruz returned in G-Force (2009, voice) and physically in Nine (2009), Homar in Paper Birds/Pájaros de Papel (2010). Broken Embraces is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Broken Embraces?