Spanish Cinema Now. 8.

Back-to-back delight was provided yesterday at Spanish Cinema Now with double showings of a frothy, funny musical and a richly rewarding extended-family drama - bringing to an almost-close another memorable visit by Spain to New York City.

It's been a while since I have heard so many individual patrons laughing out loud at odd moments all around a movie theater - not with huge "group" laughs you'd hear at something like Superbad, but the smaller sort, arising from a moment that's tickled an individual's fancy. For his first full-length feature, Scandalous (¿Por qué se frotan las patitas?), director/co-writer Alvaro Begines has chosen a musical comedy - not the easiest of genres to tackle early on. Yet his utterly captivating, non-pushy style works well to draw us in and, by virtue of his grasp on character, humor and happenstance, keeps us consistently interested and amused.

Three generations of women have had it up-to-here with their men and, unbeknownst to each other, stage individual coups. At the same time, a group of free-floating, squatter musicians have intersected with two of the women (in one case, rather vitally), causing disappearances that involve a private detective, a nosy neighbor, a TV talk show and more. In this giddy, sweet film, Begines smartly balances social comment with song and comedy. His tone is easy-going and off-the-cuff, yet his terrific ensemble knows how to make the most of its many memorable moments. The cast includes some of Spain's most interesting actors from all three generations: Lola Herrera and Carlos Álvarez-Novoa, Antonio Dechent and Manuel Morón, and Raúl Arévalo as the lonesome loner who holds the movie together and asks the question that comprises its original Spanish title: "Why do they rub their feet together?" The subjects here are flies, and the answer we learn at the finale is sweet, sad and symbolic.

Ms Herrera, in particular, is a commanding presence, with such a load of barely buried fire, that she makes her grandmother a thing of beauty, as well as someone to contend with. A few years ago, Señor Dechent seemed to be in every other SCN film. We don't see early enough of him these days, so his reappearance here is most welcome. Señor Morón (who also appears in this edition's Theresa, the Body of Christ and Mataharis) nearly steals the movie with his precise and hilarious turn as Manolete, the private eye. And Señor Arévalo - who opens, closes and, in a sense, carries the movie and its many themes via his ample talent and slightly crazy charm - is a young man we're sure be seeing more of. In this fest alone, he appears in Scandalous, Seven Billiard Tables, and the short subject Traumalogia.

In Seven Billiard Tables (Siete mesas de billar francés), Raúl Arévalo registers strongly again, but so differently from his role in Scandalous that I failed to recognize him until midway through the movie. He's part of a large ensemble that works with precision and polish in Gracía Querejeta's enormously likeable drama that takes off from that sad point at which a parent becomes so life-threateningly ill that a child and grandchild must travel immediately and fast. In the three of Ms Querejeta's movies I have seen (Cuando vuelvas a mi lado, Hector and this new one - the latter two co-written with David Planell), I've been struck with how cleverly and gracefully this writer/director parcels out exposition. This is done bit by bit throughout her movies so that the mystery of who her characters are comes to us over time, with little and large surprises along the way.

Each film of hers I've seen seems more accomplished than its predecessor, though all are quite good. Seven Billiard Tables is an extended-family drama that takes in a rather large cast of characters, giving each his/her due. It's already shared a Best Screenplay award at the San Sebastian fest, and last week was nominated for six Goyas: best actress nods for Maribel Verdú and Blanca Portilla, best director, and best supporting actor and actress (Señor Arévalo and Amparo Baró). Everyone does such as good job - including little Víctor Valdivia, lately of The Education of Fairies, who plays the Verdú character's son - that choosing among them all must have proven difficult.

All of Querejeta's movies are character-driven, and when the direction, writing and acting is on a level this high, enjoyment is a surety. We learn quite a bit about billiards and family ties along the way, but mostly we grow to understand and love these people - for their faults as much as their occasional kindnesses and humor.

Seven Billiard Tables will be shown again Sunday, Dec 23, at 7 pm. And because the movie opens with that very familiar Universal logo, there may be hope that a US distribution deal is in the works.

Posted by dwhudson at December 22, 2007 4:02 PM