Spanish Cinema Now. 7.

One of the consistent surprises of the Spanish Cinema Now series (in fact of all the FSLC's individual European "country" fests) is that you simply cannot tell via the program which film might be a must-see. Case in point: Tom Fernández's Suso's Tower (La Torre de Suso), which is part of the Javier Cámara retrospective. My favorite so far - and by a long shot - the movie seems as good an example of intelligent mainstream moviemaking as I've seen in this festival. To describe the plot would simply put you off, so I'll simply say that Fernández, in his first full-length feature as director/writer, has taken the "big" themes - life, death, sex, love, friendship, family, failure and success - and whipped them into a singularly edifying story that handles these often weighty topics with such a light but certain touch that you'll give over to laughter, thought and tears without a moment's undue prodding.

The writing here is very classy indeed: little exposition so that all we see and hear of character and past events flows naturally. While I am sure that Mr Fernández has a lot more to learn about filmmaking, I must say his choice of visuals works so well that I'd have to view the movie again before getting at all picky. He has also cast his film exceedingly well. Cámara is wonderful (no surprise), and he is surrounded by actors who all give their somewhat typical characters (mom, dad, best friends, ex-girls and so on) such precise and individual characteristics that they become full-bodied, fascinating people in no time at all. Perhaps the quirkiest and most charming is an ex-tryst whom our hero cannot remember (he was drunk at the time), played wonderfully well by Malena Alterio, who possesses such keen intelligence, wit and - most important - patience, that I think women of all stripes, feminists to fundamentalists, will embrace her as their own.

There is so much to ponder about these lives as the movie moves along (and afterwards): the meaning of success, failure and our ability to grow and change. Male friendship, as much as any of the other subjects at hand, is given a most interesting workout. I find it strange that, with all the films made for the male market - action, sports, thrillers, sci-fi and more - that we see so little of this. Suso's Tower gives us a chance to fill the gap. It screens again Friday, December 19, at 6:30 pm.

In my interview with young Spanish filmmakers Javier Gutierrez and Nacho Vigalondo, both mentioned how, when you make short films in Spain, you are much more heralded and appreciated than when you attempt a full-length feature. After seeing my second year of Spanish shorts at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Spanish Cinema Now series (titled Shortmetraje), I'm not surprised. Every filmmaker in this 101-minute program is worth seeing and several are worth much more: Their contributions probably herald new moviemakers from whom we'll soon be seeing full-length features (which will, of course, be promptly be ignored by the Spanish film-going public).

In fact, three of the shorts seem like they're already a feature just waiting to be made: the 11-minute Skunks (Mofetas) by Inés Enciso that offers a look at two young "illegals" trying to get from Africa to Spain; Lightbourne (Alumbramiento) by Eduardo Chapero which details in 15 minutes a family's watch during their mother's last night; and the program's 13-minute shining light, A Walk (Paseo) by Arturo Ruiz Serrano, in which we watch as two men help a third learn to declare his love for a woman. The particular large event surrounding this smaller one - and the time in which it takes place - comes clear as this beautifully realized short progresses. It could easily constitute the beginning, middle or end of a wonderful full-length movie.

Married Heterosexuals (Heterosexuales y casados), another longer short (19 minutes), offers a look at a modern relationship gone awry, concluding with a very funny and perhaps sadly possible route that more of our current couplings might, unfortunately, take. With tighter control over dialogue and narrative, Vicente Villanueva might just make the move into a smart and timely feature film. Another quarter-hour fiction that moves fast and furiously over a wealth of characters and events is She Lies (Miente), in which a beautiful young immigrant woman's gift for her younger sister sets off a chain reaction of major proportions. Of all the pieces in the program, this short is already so close to a full-length film in terms of everything except its running time that I can't imagine that its director, Isabel de Ocampo, won't make the actual feature film sometime soon. The only short that left me cold (and even here I can appreciate the visuals) was the 14-minute Line of Flight (Linea de Fuga) by something/someone called Tronk, full of noise, light and "partying" to little effect.

Animation is well-represented via two shorts of wildly divergent style and content. The five-minute Berbaco, from the animation workshop at Arteleku, simply offered up designs, patterns and shapes that morphed interestingly and beautifully from one thing into another. The Attack of the Killer Kritters (El Ataque de los Kriters asesinos) from Sam Orti Marti proved a wonderfully funny combo of Claymation, monster movie and telenovela satire. With visuals that were clever, funny and on target, these nine minutes sped by with giggles aplenty from the audience. Shortmetraje screens again Thursday, December 18, at 9 pm.

Posted by dwhudson at December 17, 2008 1:37 PM