Cine en español

For the last five months I've been watching one Spanish-language film a week - and I've just run out. I've seen all the films in the Sandy Bay, South Hobart and North Hobart video shops - well, all except for a couple in black-and-white, a B-grade sci-fi and a handful that look especially violent or erotic. I'm not quite sure what to do next, but I thought that I could at least share my recommendations with you. Oh, and do keep in mind that I can only faintly remember many of these.

• Rudo y Cursi [Rudo and Cursi] - Mexico ✭✭✭✭ Hilarious comedy about a couple of dimwitted half-brothers who make it big in football, only to squander their riches. A great introduction to latin cinema and a rare treat in that it can safely be watched by the whole family.

• Under The Same Moon [La Misma Luna] - Mexico ✭✭✭ Another excellent introduction to latin cinema that can be watched by the whole family (although the second half gets a bit scary). An engaging, entertaining and poignant story of a boy trekking through Mexico to join his mother trying to make some money in the US.
  

• Bombón: El Perro [Bombón: The Dog] - Argentina ✭✭✭✭ Another family-friendly film (the last of the three) with an unusual subject - a poor Patagonian mechanic who has the chance to make it big when he is given a prize-winning dog.
  

• The Secret In Their Eyes [El Secreto De Sus Ojos] - Argentina ✭✭✭ An ex-cop returning to an old murder investigation and a romance. Excellent, engaging, character-driven, poignant and ultimately disturbing thriller.
  

• Pan's Labyrinth [El Laberinto Del Fauno] - Spain ✭✭✭✭ I enjoyed this more on the second viewing. Quite unlike any other Spanish-language film I've seen. A dark, inventive fairytale. Violence.
  

• Amores Perros [Love's A Bitch] - Mexico ✭✭✭ Excellent, edgy drama. Infidelity and a dogfighting underworld. Violence.
  

• Y Tu Mamá También [And Your Mother Too] - Mexico ✭✭✭ I seem to remember a lot of sex/sexiness in this film - it would be excellent if only it wasn't there, but then it's that sort of film. Infidelity and experimental sex on a roadtrip.
  

• Talk To Her [Hable Con Ella] - Spain ✭✭✭ This is an excellent drama but quite uncomfortable to watch because somehow the unhealthiness of the main character creeps up on you. Intermingled lives and women in comas.
  

• Volver [Return] - Spain ✭ This was an annoying, caricatured comic drama about a dead mother and a recent murder. It could just be a case of humour not crossing the cultural barrier. But it does include some magic realism, which always gets me off-side.
  

• Sin Nombre [Without Name] - Mexico? ✭✭✭✭ Excellent edgy drama about a girl making the dangerous trip through Central America to the US with her erstwhile absent father, uncle and cousin, and about an unlikely friendship that develops along the way. Gang culture. Violence.
  

• Broken Embraces [Los Abrazos Rotos] - Spain ✭ An irritating film for similar reasons as Volver (and by the same director - but I do like his other work). This one's a serious drama and the over-dramatic acting and storyline never worked for me. Infidelity, romance and tragedy.
  

• The Sea Inside [Mar Adentro] - Spain ✭✭ Great drama about a man's campaign for his own 'euthanasia' and the relationships with the people in his life. The man - and the film's - dogged pursuit of death made me feel a bit ill though.
  

• All About My Mother [Todo Sobre Mi Madre] - Spain ✭✭✭ Great drama about stars, ordinary people and transvestite prostitutes. The storyline is poignant but the content disturbing.
  

• Nine Queens [Nueve Reinas] - Argentina ✭✭✭ Fun thriller about a money-making scam.
  

• Maria Full Of Grace [María Llena Eres De Gracia] - Colombia ✭✭✭✭ I watched this a long while ago but it was very powerful. I felt like it captured both the ordinariness and extremity of this girl's life and experience as a drug mule travelling to the US.
  

• Intacto [Intact] - Spain ✭✭ Strange, faintly magical thriller about luck and variants of Russian Roulette.
  

• El Crimen Del Padre Amaro [The Crime Of Father Amaro] - Mexico ✭✭✭ Great drama about druglords, devotion, girls and moral compromise in the Catholic church. Bit too sexual in places.
  

• Belle Epoque - Spain ✭ Massively B-grade comedy set in civil-war Spain about an ex-soldier choosing between (read: taking turns of) a farmer's daughters. Could only bear to watch it because of the Spanish, but then maybe I just don't get Spanish humour.
  

• El Método [The Method] - Spain ✭✭ An engaging and somewhat troubling thriller about a strange, nasty group job interview. Quite a bit of gratuitous sex :(
  

• Our Lady Of The Assassins [La Virgen De Los Sicarios] - Colombia ✭✭✭ Evocative and well-acted story about survival, homosexuality, companionship and violence. Leaves you feeling a bit used and despairing-
  

• Nicotina [Nicotine] - Mexico ✭✭ Madcap thriller about a diamond heist gone wrong.
  

Like Australia cinema, latin cinema often focuses on the dark side of life. It tends to do so in a fast-paced, dramatic style, rather than the relentlessly ugly grind of Australia drama. Violence, gangs, drug cartels and trafficking and illegal immigration crop up repeatedly, as does everyday poverty and infidelity. In my opinion, the films are generally of a very high standard - excellent scripts, characters and cinematography.