La comunidad (2000)

The accidental discovery of a big fortune hidden in the apartment of a deceased man will fill the heart of a real estate agent with greed and dreams of a luxurious life, but the neighbours think otherwise.

Director:

Álex de la Iglesia (as Alex de la Iglesia)

Writers:

Jorge Guerricaechevarría (as Jorge Guerricaecheverria), Álex de la Iglesia (as Alex de la Iglesia)

Stars:

Carmen Maura, Eduardo Antuña, María Asquerino

20 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carmen Maura	...	Julia
Eduardo Antuña	...	Charly
María Asquerino	...	Encarna (as Maria Asquerino)
Jesús Bonilla	...	Ricardo (as Jesus Bonilla)
Marta Fernández Muro	...	Paquita (as Marta Fernandez Muro)
Paca Gabaldón	...	Hortensia (as Paca Gabaldon)
Ane Gabarain	...	Karina
Sancho Gracia	...	Castro
Emilio Gutiérrez Caba	...	Emilio (as Emilio Gutierrez Caba)
Kiti Mánver	...	Dolores (as Kiti Manver)
Terele Pávez	...	Ramona (as Terele Pavez)
Roberto Perdomo	...	Oswaldo
Manuel Tejada	...	Chueca
Enrique Villén	...	Domínguez (as Enrique Villen)
Gorka Aguinagalde	...	Camillero 1

Storyline

Julia finds 300 million pesetas hidden in a dead man's house while selling an apartment. She's a 40-ish real estate agent now forced to face the wrath of a very peculiar community (of neighbors), headed by an unscrupulous administrator. Black humor gives way to suspense, closely followed by horror that doesn't take long in coming to a head in undisguised pandemonium.

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Plot Keywords:

black comedy | cell phone | real estate agent | apartment | neighbor | 

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Taglines:

Alone with Neighbours.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

29 September 2000 (Spain)

Also Known As:

A Comunidade

Filming Locations:

Puerta del Sol, Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

€4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Antena 3 Televisión,Lolafilms,Vía Digital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The roof scene (and the Hotel Regina) provides a very good location of the flat on Calle Cedaceros, in Madrid, Spain. On the other hand the roundabout does not physically touch that block.

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Quotes

Domínguez: The suitcase! Fucking greed will send us to hell.

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Connections

Spoofs Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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Soundtracks

Estudiantina portuguesa
By Francisco Ramos de Castro (as F. Ramos de Castro), Lidya Ferreira, José Padilla and Arturo Rígel

User Reviews

Darkly comic thriller

Julia(Carmen Maura)is a temp at real estate agency, her first job is to show some clients around a recently vacated apartment in an old district. The apartment is to Julia's surprise fully furnished with all mod cons and much more and with the former tenant being deceased, this gives her the idea of having a romantic meal there with her husband as its nice and bright and warm, their place is damp and cold. During a romantic liaison the ceiling falls in from the apartment above and hundreds of cockroaches fall on them, when the fire fighters arrive to check out the flat above they find the tenant deceased and decaying, Julia finds a map there and which she believes might lead her to some hidden treasure, as the deceased was a lottery millione, sure enough she finds 300 million pesetas in cash stashed under some floorboards. With all the neighbours acting curious and following her, she takes up temporary residence until she can escape with the loot.

Darkly comic thriller thats a mix between Shallow Grave and Polanski's The Tenant, with well rounded oddball characters set in a claustrophobically old apartment block. its refreshingly surprising at almost every turn, the only non surprising thing being, we the viewer know its going to be virtually impossible to escape easily with the money. As the film develops we learn the real dark truth being La Comunidad, as the pace simultaneously races, the deeds become ever more darker. Beautifully directed by the versatile Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, it's a pleasure to watch, as he mixes comedy and horror to perfection.The film as a whole is not strictly horror, but there's plenty of bravura horror scenes here to keep horror fans like myself very happy indeed.