On December 17, HBO Max Spain advertisement that his most viewed series of the year is ’30 coins’, a success that has now returned to Alex de la Iglesia, one of the most important Spanish filmmakers of the last 30 years. While waiting for the premiere of ‘Veneciafrenia’ (presented in Sitges), at Espinof we wanted to do a complete review of his work ordering from worst to best all movies and series you have done to date. Without further ado, I leave you with them:
‘The Oxford crimes’
At the time it was a great disappointment and things have not improved by recovering it today. From the outset, the staging work stands out, but the rest of the ingredients of this thriller that brings to mind Alfred Hitchcock do not finish to curdle, also counting on an unsatisfactory evolution and an outcome that is better to forget.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Messi’
A very worthy documentary about one of the best footballers of all time. It is not memorable at any point, but at least it is not cannibalized by the presence of its protagonist and convincingly reconstructs different moments of his life.
Criticism in Espinof
‘The spark of life’
A kind of update to ‘The Great Carnival’, Billy Wilder’s masterpiece, but who knows how to distance himself enough to justify his existence. It is true that it is a work with a certain tendency to salt in relation to its criticism of the media world, but in return the drama suffered by its protagonist is reflected with a certain ease.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Perfect strangers’
The greatest success of Álex de la Iglesia’s career is also possibly his least personal work, since it is the remake of a pre-existing work. Here he gives us great moments, partly because of what happens and partly because of the work of some of his protagonists, but the game he proposes is deflating until it is exhausted before its outcome.
Criticism in Espinof
‘The bar’
De la Iglesia resorts here to the mechanisms of terror – but without ever giving up comedy – to tell a story that brings to mind the essential ‘The Exterminating Angel’. It is a dirty proposal bordering on the grotesque that, unfortunately, never quite hooked me with this portrait of the less kind face of Spain through its reprehensible protagonists.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Pluto BRB Nero’
A nice science fiction comedy on board a spaceship in which it seemed that more resources had been needed for the technical sections to look up to the task and time to work on the scripts. At the time, something like this was appreciated on the Spanish television scene, but with the passage of time its weaknesses have been more evident.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Perdita Durango’
A curious step in the career of its director, since it gave the feeling of being an attempt to access Hollywood with a proposal that, yes, still had some comedy, but in general it was much more series and a bit strange in its way of acting. portray the macabre romance between a magnetic Rosie Perez and a solvent Javier Bardem. A different film in its filmography that even today continues to provoke mixed reactions without being entirely clear about the reason.
‘My big night’
A somewhat chaotic proposal in which the recording of a New Year’s Eve gala becomes a parade of characters and situations of the most irregular, since as soon as you are laughing as soon as you end up somewhat desperate. Entertaining but inconsistent.
Criticism in Espinof
‘The witches of Zugarramurdi’
It begins as a shot with the robbery and the subsequent flight, seeming to want to recover his style of yesteryear but maintaining the tendency to excess that was progressively marking his work. Unfortunately, it loses interest until it reaches a final stretch that never ends, making it seem that they had run out of ideas.
Criticism in Espinof
‘800 bullets’
There are two very different films here. On the one hand, the song of love to a time in Spain left behind many years ago with that small town that survives as long as it can remembering the glory years of the spaghetti western. There ‘800 bullets’ shines, but things are much less stimulating when it comes to the use of the grandson in Sancho Gracia’s fiction as a support for the viewer to get to know that place …
‘The room of the boy’
Álex de la Iglesia’s first serious approach to horror films came from this film for television within the cycle ‘Movies to not sleep’. With just a handful of ingredients and a very tight duration, we have here a precedent for ‘We’ supported by a remarkable performance by Javier Gutiérrez, well supported by Leonor Watling. A little less would have been appreciated, but despite this it continues to work quite well today, perhaps even better than when it was released.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Mutant action’
De la Iglesia had already left a clear example of his talent with the wonderful short film ‘Mirindas asesinas’, but not even that had prepared us for a film that was a complete revolution in Spanish cinema. An unexpected cross between comedy, science fiction and film noir full of stimulating ideas and commanded by an overwhelming Antonio Resines. There may be some shocking notes if you see it now for the first time, but it is that nothing is being celebrated here, simply exposing a universe in which there are no heroes, only despicable characters to a greater or lesser extent.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Sad trumpet ballad’
The sublimation of excess by its director, which also reflects a vital stage in the history of Spain through the conflictive relationship that arises between its two protagonists, played by Carlos Areces and Antonio de la Torre. A radical proposal – for example, its outcome seems to push what is proposed in ‘The community’ to the limit – but constant that it is so easy to love – as is my case, despite certain situations that squeak a bit at me – as it is to hate. I would also like to emphasize that that somewhat ugly digital visual aesthetic has never worked better in your work than here.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Crime Ferpecto’
The presentation of Guillermo Toledo’s character seems insurmountable to me, a perfect combination of the talent of the actor and the filmmaker. Then the film is not so round, but the particular odyssey that its protagonist lives has enough hook for one to get into his skin and make his own transformation from someone special and unique into a poor devil.
Criticism in Espinof
’30 coins’
For now we have a season that is a joy from start to finish. In it, De la Iglesia maintains its tendency to excess, more marked in the past decade, but integrating it wonderfully in a proposal of epic terror that knows how to play with the most traditional humor in its initial section to gradually become more and more more serious. Great job in addition to its cast, especially from an impressive Eduard Fernández as Father Vergara.
Criticism in Espinof
‘The Day of the Beast’
Maybe ‘Mutant Action’ was the official letter of introduction, but ‘The Day of the Beast’ was the title with which the public welcomed De la Iglesia’s cinema. A satanic comedy that you can’t get enough of no matter how many times you watch it. From a priceless leading trio to a delightful story development combining humor and terror in an enviable way, it is also ideal for those looking for a different Christmas movie.
Criticism in Espinof
‘Community’
It can be perfectly seen as a twisted version of ’13 Rue del Barnacle ‘in which the death of a wealthy neighbor further exacerbates the lower instincts of everyone who inhabits that building. Led by an immeasurable Carmen Maura -although all its cast embroider it-, it is an excellent black comedy that also flirts with terror, drama and action with great success.
‘Dead laughing’
The story of Nino and Bruno is fascinating in itself, but it is that Santiago Segura and El gran Wyoming embroider their characters reflecting very well the peculiar relationship that arises between these transcripts of Tuesday and 13, while De la Iglesia reflects it perfectly from the staging, without forgetting the excellent script he signed with Jorge Guerricaechevarría. At the time, and perhaps even today, it was somewhat misunderstood by an audience expecting a more direct comedy when here the humor, sometimes extremely black – Tino’s part unforgettable – with the drama coexist masterfully at all times.
Criticism in Espinof