Cintas de oro: The 50 Best Spanish films
This list comes from a survey of critics, actors and directors for the Spanish cinema centenary in 1996 and appeared the newspaper El Mundo on Dec 17 1995.
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50 titles
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsSilvia PinalFrancisco RabalFernando ReyViridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior.
- DirectorLuis García BerlangaStarsNino ManfrediEmma PenellaJosé IsbertAn undertaker marries an old executioner's daughter and must continue his father-in-law's profession after his retirement, although he doesn't like it.
- DirectorMario CamusStarsAlfredo LandaTerele PávezBelén BallesterosSpain, 1960s. The family of poor farmers work hard in the countryside for the rich landowners who exploit them.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsFernando Fernán GómezTeresa GimperaAna TorrentIn 1940, after watching and being traumatized by the movie Frankenstein (1931), a sensitive seven year-old girl living in a small Spanish village drifts into her own fantasy world.
- DirectorLuis García BerlangaStarsCassenJosé Luis López VázquezElvira QuintilláIn a small Spanish town, a group of old ladies decides to celebrate Christmas Eve with a "seat a poor man at your table" dinner: each wealthy household of the town will have a homeless person dining with them that night. The celebrations also include a parade, and in its midst is Plácido, the humble owner of a three-wheeler, whose family is forced to live in a public lavatory because they lack the money to pay rent, and who must pay the second bill on his vehicle before midnight or else he will lose it.
- DirectorLuis García BerlangaStarsLolita SevillaManolo MoránJosé IsbertAfter finding out that North American people are visiting the Spanish villages, the citizens of Villar del Río start preparing themselves to welcome them when they arrive.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsIsmael MerloAlfredo MayoJosé María PradaThree men go hunting rabbits during a hot day. Heat and talking about events happened in the past make them angry, until they go totally crazy.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsOmero AntonuttiSonsoles ArangurenIcíar BollaínA woman reflects on her childhood relationship with her father, attempting to understand the depths of his despair and the truth of his myths.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCarmen MauraGonzalo SuárezLuis HostalotThe vicissitudes of Gloria, a neurotic housewife, and her family's peculiar characters.
- DirectorFernando Fernán GómezStarsJosé SacristánLaura del SolJuan DiegoThe movie tells the story of a family of comedians that work in the towns of Spain during the 40's and 50's. Life gets very tough for them since they cannot compete any longer with cinema. We assist to the end of an era.
- DirectorJuan Antonio BardemStarsBetsy BlairJosé SuárezYves MassardA couple of friends decide to have a good time and play a trick on an unmarried woman. Therefore one of them has to pretend to fall in love with her.
- DirectorMiguel PicazoStarsAurora BautistaCarlos EstradaIrene Gutiérrez CabaTula, a 31-year-old single woman whose sister has just died, decides to live in the home of her bank-employee brother-in-law Ramiro and his two children. She takes control of their lives, playing wife/mother without the sexual commitments or maternal responsibilities. Ramiro likes her because she adores his children, but she rejects his courtship. Desperate Ramiro tries to rape her and the priest advises her to marry the man. Tula insists on maintaining platonic relations and decides to take them to her village and, in the presence of relatives, redirect Ramiro's feelings to the memory of her deceased sister. Ramiro rapes Tula's young cousin Juanita at the earliest opportunity, but the rest of the family does not know until months later when it's obvious that she's pregnant. Ramiro is forced to marry her, and he takes her and the children back to the city.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsCatherine DeneuveFernando ReyFranco NeroShortly after her mother's death, an innocent and youthful woman will find refuge into the household of her middle-aged aristocratic guardian, who will submit her to his sexual advances.
- DirectorBigas LunaStarsÀngel JovéMaría MartínIsabel PisanoA disturbed middle-aged man is obsessed by a dancer and prostitute and abducts her, with tragic consequences.
- DirectorJosé Antonio Nieves CondeStarsLuis PeñaMaría AsquerinoFrancisco ArenzanaThe struggles of a Spanish family as it emigrates from the country to Madrid circa 1950.
- DirectorJuan Antonio BardemStarsLucia BosèAlberto ClosasBruna CorràA couple having an affair strike a bicyclist with their car and do not offer aid out of fear of their relationship being exposed.
- DirectorMarco FerreriStarsJosé IsbertPedro PorcelJosé Luis López VázquezSeventy-something Don Anselmo, a retired minister, becomes obsessed with owning a motorized wheelchair and fakes infirmity to get it.
- DirectorJosé María ForquéStarsJosé Luis López VázquezCassenGracita MoralesGalindo works in a bank. One day he convinces the other employees in the bank to plan a hold-up in the bank they are working. They prepare everything carefully. However, real robbers come just before the fake ones.
- DirectorJosé Luis BorauStarsLola GaosOvidi MontllorAlicia SánchezAngel is a poacher who lives in the forest with his domineering mother. One day he goes to the city and meets Milagros, an escapee from a reform school and the lover of a known criminal so he takes her to his house in the mountains.
- DirectorFernando Fernán GómezStarsCarlos LarrañagaTota AlbaLina CanalejasPaquita and her brother Venancio, both single and childish, live in a small town near Madrid. Their bossy eldest sister Ignacia, also an old maid, dominates them. One night, Paquita hears her sister tell somebody about her intention to sell all the family wealth. Once the money is gathered, she wishes to travel to Paris with the mysterious person and get rid of her brother and sister. Paquita and Venancio are terrified...
- DirectorVicente ArandaStarsVictoria AbrilJorge SanzMaribel Verdú1950s Madrid: After military service, Paco looks for work to save up and marry his fiancée. She rejects his sexual advances. So when he rents a room with a cute widow making advances, he caves in.
- DirectorFernando TruebaStarsFernando Fernán GómezJorge SanzPenélope CruzA 1931 Spanish military deserter finds himself on a lonely farm until the farmer's four daughters pay a visit and he falls for all of them.
- DirectorJosé Luis Sáenz de HerediaStarsFrancisco RabalMargarita AndreyJosé IsbertThree different stories whose central axis are radio listeners: several contestants have to get to a radio station studio dressed as Eskimo, a thief answering a call in the house which is stealing and a school teacher who participates in a contest to get money to cure a child of his village. The stories are linked by the love story of a speaker and his fiancée and through interviews of real celebrities from the time of film.
- DirectorJaime de ArmiñánStarsJosé Luis López VázquezJulieta SerranoAntonio FerrandisA 43-year-old woman living in a small town discovers that she is actually a man. Will she change her sex and suffer the reaction of a narrow-minded society?
- DirectorMario CamusStarsVictoria AbrilAna BelénConcha VelascoAs in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. The main theme of the film is the contrast between the poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime, and the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business.
- DirectorAgustí VillarongaStarsGünter MeisnerDavid SustMarisa ParedesA former Nazi child-killer is confined in an iron lung inside an old mansion after a suicide attempt. His wife hires him a full-time carer, a mysterious young man who is driven slowly mad by the old man's disturbing past.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsEusebio PoncelaCarmen MauraAntonio BanderasA gay filmmaker becomes involved with an obsessive fan while still pining for his absent true love. Meanwhile, he shares a close but complex relationship with his trans sister, an actress.
- DirectorAgustín Díaz YanesStarsVictoria AbrilPilar BardemFederico LuppiEscaping gangsters trying to kill her because of being witness to a crime, Gloria (Victoria Abril), a young woman of lower class, comes back to Madrid, Spain and to her family. There she tries to find work and earn some money...
- DirectorFlorián ReyStarsCarmen ViancePedro LarrañagaAmelia MuñozIn an impoverished Castilian village live Juan, his wife Acacia, their son and Juan's blind father. The harsh weather conditions force the peasants to emigrate to a better land. Acacia goes to the city instead. Time goes by and they will meet again.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsBerta SocuéllamosJose Antonio Valdelomar GonzálezJesús AriasAngela begins to hang around with Pablo and his gang of young robbers.
- DirectorLorenzo Llobet GraciaStarsFernando Fernán GómezMaría Dolores PraderaIsabel de PomésHis director's only film, Vida en Sombras tells the story of a man who from his childhood falls in love with cinema and grows to be a director and cameraman. While struggling to make pictures he gets married and is seriously struck by the Spanish Civil War. Life events with lights and shadows mix with a deep love for movies which will prevail in the end.
- DirectorRicardo FrancoStarsJuan Luis PaneroLeopoldo María PaneroMichi PaneroTwenty years after having talked about death, the world and their problems in "El desencanto", the Panero brothers reflect about their actual situation at the moment and what has happened since the last movie.
- DirectorFernando Fernán GómezStarsAnalía GadéFernando Fernán GómezJosé IsbertFinished their careers of Law and Medicine, respectively, Antonio Redondo and Josefina Castro, a pair of young Spanish newlyweds, are looking for work to buy an apartment and start a life together, but they will face enormous difficulties throughout the process.
- DirectorJosé Luis García SánchezStarsHéctor AlterioJuan AmigoOfelia AngélicaIn a restaurant they're preparing a grand banquet in honor of a sports association of anglers, but several circumstances seem to have conspired to boycott the event.
- DirectorIván ZuluetaStarsEusebio PoncelaCecilia RothWill MoreA low budget horror filmmaker gets in touch with an eccentric who is trying to film his consciousness during drug abuse.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsAntonio GadesCristina HoyosJuan Antonio JiménezA group of dancers puts Lorca's 'Blood Wedding' on stage, the tragic play about a married man who is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, and tries to reunite with her despite her planned wedding.
- DirectorJ.A. SalgotStarsVictoria AbrilJulito de la CruzJaume SorribasClara, an attractive unmarried woman, and her autistic child who transforms and absorbs her life, provide an extreme dissection of the mother-child bond in an uneasily honest way.
- DirectorManuel Gutiérrez AragónStarsÁngela MolinaAna BelénEncarna PasoIn a small Spanish village, Gloria, the imperious head of a troubled family, is devoted to her two sons. The brothers, Óscar and Juan, have frequent violent disputes. Óscar, the oldest, and his steel-willed mother run the family's grocery store called el Jardín (The Garden), which does a brisk business in the black market. Juan is the handsome, irresponsible, best-loved second son. When Oscar marries his lover Ana, Juan heads for Madrid to work for Franco. He also leaves behind his impoverished cousin, Ángela, pregnant with his son. Jump ten years. Juanito, their son, has rheumatic fever. The doctor says to pamper the boy. Years later, Óscar and Ana remain childless. Gloria wants to bring her illegitimate (and incestuous) grandson and only heir, into the family circle. As Juanito recovers, Juan returns in desperate need of cash; Juanito witnesses a theft blamed on his innocent mother. Things come to a head at a saint's-name party for father and son. Jealousies, betrayals, and a bullet converge.
- DirectorFrancisco RegueiroStarsFernando ReyFrancisco RabalVictoria AbrilOn the day he learns he has a year to live, a Spanish Cardinal who has lived in the Vatican for 30 years learns he has a granddaughter, born without a father to his own illegitimate daughter. Against the Pope's advice, he returns home to sort out his worldly affairs, including a vineyard that supplies the Vatican. He must find a way to influence his brother, an atheistic physician and a bachelor, his imperious mother, his former lover (now married and raising his granddaughter), her husband, and his daughter, a stylish prostitute. He plans to marry his daughter to his brother, legitimize his grandchild, and leave the land within the family. But life gets in the way.
- DirectorMontxo ArmendárizStarsJosé María AsínPatxi BisquertEnrique GoicoecheaThe childhood, love adventures, and ordinary life of Tasio, a coal maker in rural Navarre.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCarmen MauraAntonio BanderasJulieta SerranoA television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.
- DirectorJulio MedemStarsEmma SuárezCarmelo GómezAna TorrentSet in the Basque region, a story of the rivalry of two families, period 1870-1935
- DirectorImanol UribeStarsCarmelo GómezRuth GabrielJavier BardemA member of the ETA terrorist organization belongs to a commando which is preparing an outrage in Madrid. But he sets other priorities when he meets a girl who is addicted to drugs and for whom he feels a strong attraction.
- DirectorBasilio Martín PatinoStarsCelia GámezImperio ArgentinaMiguel de MolinaThis documentary is frame in the spanish hyper realism. A journey through the legendary songs of Franco dictatorship. With the colaboration of the wonderful singer Imperio Argentina.
- DirectorJaime ChávarriStarsFelicidad BlancJuan Luis PaneroLeopoldo María PaneroThis film is a documentary about the poet 'Leopoldo Panero'. His widow and his sons talk about death in general and in this special case and also about their own family problems.
- DirectorManuel Gutiérrez AragónStarsFernando Fernán GómezCristina MarcosEnrique San FranciscoMaravillas, a teenager of fifteen, lives with her father, an old unemployed photographer who steals money from his daughter for his little erotic vices. But Maravillas has the protection of their godparents, Jews of Sephardic origin. When an emerald disappears, the prime suspect will be the father of the girl.
- DirectorGonzalo SuárezStarsHugh GrantLizzy McInnernyValentine PelkaLord Byron, poet Percy Shelley, his future wife, Mary Shelley (writing Frankenstein) and others spend the summer of 1816 together.
- DirectorJosé Luis CuerdaStarsJosé SazatornilCarmen de LirioFrancisco MartínezA village and the crazy situations encountered by its citizens.
- DirectorFernando TruebaStarsJeff GoldblumMiranda RichardsonAnémoneAmerican writer in Paris is hired to do a script for an edgy young director he can't stand. When he falls in love with the director's cold and manipulative pretty sister, his life starts to unravel and he realizes that he's been used.
- DirectorJuanma Bajo UlloaStarsSilvia MuntTito ValverdeSusana García DíezThe bitter life of a girl whose mother wants a boy.