carlos saura and spanish film in the 70s

i dont know much about spanish film from the 70s but i know that it was an interesting time. franco still heavily censored the filmmakers and the wacky comedy of pedro almodobar was still years away. what resulted was dreamlike and ethereal films of victor erice and carlos saura. CRIA CUERVROS is a good example of the films i see as typical of 1970s spain. in english, the title is raising ravens, an idiomatic expression for misteaching your children or opening a pandora's box. the plot is very much centered around that. at the beginning of the film, we see a child sort of witness her father killed and the ghost of her mother guiding her. her and her two sisters go to live with her aunt as she continues to get visits from her mother. it is a film about growing up in a dysfunctional situation but making the most of it. the remarkable thing about cria is how remarkably subtle the message is. we would only how tortured the child (her name is ana, and is played by ana torrent) is due to flash-forwards from her as an adult talking about the time.

maybe i am grouping this victor erice and spirit of the beehive because ana torrent was in that too and also had elements of fantasy in it. either way, i didnt care for beehive but i did enjoy cria.

grantd, the film was slow and i was bored a bit during the middle but i was pretty entranced by the visuals. i am really glad torrent has continued to have such an amazing career as she was talented beyond her years in this and beehive, for the matter. definetely worth a watch

more recent watching

touchez pas au grisbi: fantastic french noir by jacques becker. outstanding comeback role for jean gabin...may get a full writeup soon

the haunting in connecticut: not awful, not that great...the most you can ask from an american horror film

while the city sleeps: awesome fritz lang/dana andrews film noir from the 40s

ashani sanket: satyajit ray film about the indian's government man made famine of the 40s? powerful but a bit dull

a tale of springtime: boring eric rohmer film from his comedies and proverbs series

a great day in harlem: awesome documentary on a photo

bottleshock: well intentioned film about the early days of cali wine but ultimately not satisfying and makes you crave wine

cria cuervos: interesting spanish from the 70s...ill probably write this up. not amazing but a somewhat fascinating film

[rec] -- what a nice suprise!

im not a fan of the 'found footage' movie that was popularized by blair witch and blown up by cloverfield and quarantine. the latter of whcih was based on a spanish movie called [rec] which was released on DVD this week. directed by jaume balaguero (who did the attrociously written but well directed darkness).

i naturally expected nothing from a random foreign horror film but in the end, flesh eating zombies speaking in foreign languages lead to love. it was written in the bible and it still remains true to this day.

manuela velasco stars in the lead role and is adorable. she is profoundly cute and i dont even care that she was running scared for her life most of her time but the first 20 minutes when she wasnt covered in blood, she was totally hot.

there isnt really a lot of new stuff going on in this film but it was well done and a nice enjoyable/scary watch. and of course, there will be great zombie (the fast kind) gnawing on flesh awesomeness.