10 Best Spanish Films

These days, Spanish cinema has become a mature-content and technical configuration kind of cinema worthy of being exposed in any European country or the US. In relation to the esteem other nations such as France or Italy have for Pedro Almodóvar or classic Spanish realisateurs like Luis Buñuel, Luis G. Berlanga or Carlos Saura, it turns Spanish cinema productions into honorable rivals and companions of other cultures.

In fact, Spanish films have won some of the most renowned traditionally established awards. Past successful productions have taken Spanish cinema to an internationalization and modernization level that today is still highly enjoyed, in spite of some problematic pending issues, such as the state’s involvement or the formation of a strong cinematographic industry that is able to handle interests in favor and not against filmmakers.

1. All About My Mother (1999)
Genre: Drama
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Cecilia Roth, Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes

Plot: Manuela is a hard-working single mom who has raised her son Esteban by herself since the time he was born. On his 17th birthday they go to the theater and after the show, Esteban tries to get the main actress' autograph but is run down on the street and dies. Manuela is beside herself with grief and decides to return to Barcelona to tell the boy's transgender father Lola, about the death of the son he never knew he had. Manuela meets up a pregnant nun, Rosa. They become fast friends - until tragedy strikes again.

2. Talk to Her (2002)
Genres: Drama / Mystery / Romance
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Javier Cámara, Leonor Watling, Darío Grandinetti

Plot: After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny.

3. Volver (2006)
Genres: Comedy / Crime / Drama / Mystery
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo

Plot: Raimunda, her daughter Paula and her sister Sole travel from Madrid to the windy and superstitious village of Alcanfor de las Infantas to visit the grave of their mother Irene, who died years ago in a fire with her husband. Then they visit Irene's sister Paula, an old senile aunt that raised Raimunda after the death of her parents that insists to tell them that Irene is alive and living with her; later, they go to the house of her neighbor and friend Agustina, who gives a support to Paula.

4. The Sea Inside (2004)
Genres: Biography / Drama / Romance
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Cast: Javier Bardem, Lola Dueñas, Belén Rueda

Plot: Life story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity. Film explores Ramón's relationships with two women: Julia, a lawyer who supports his cause, and Rosa, a local woman who wants to convince him that life is worth living. Through the gift of his love, these two women are inspired to accomplish things they never previously thought possible. Despite his wish to die, Ramón taught everyone he encountered the meaning, value and preciousness of life.

5. The Others (2001)
Genres: Fantasy / Horror / Thriller
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston

Plot: A woman named Grace retires with her two children to a mansion on Jersey, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to come back from battle. The children have a disease which means they cannot be touched by direct sunlight without being hurt in some way. They will live alone there with oppressive, strange and almost religious rules, until she needs to hire a group of servants for them. Their arrival will accidentally begin to break the rules with unexpected consequences.

6. Open Your Eyes (1997)
Genres: Drama / Mystery / Romance / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri

Plot: The film's intersecting planes of dream and reality have prompted some critics to suggest comparisons to Calderón's play 'Life Is a Dream'. A once handsome playboy, César finds himself in a mental facility and he can't remember why. All he can remember is meeting the love of his life for one day, and then getting into a car accident which left his face horribly disfigured. But the pain of becoming physically undesirable may help him to find the truth.

7. Agora (2009)
Genres: Adventure / Drama / History / Romance
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac

Plot: Alexandria, 391 AD: Hypatia teaches astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. Her student Orestes is in love with her, as is Davus, her personal slave. As the city's Christians, led by Ammonius and Cyril, gain political power, the institutions of learning may crumble along with the governance of slavery. Jump ahead 20 years: Orestes, the city's prefect, has an uneasy peace with Christians, led by Cyril. Hypatia has no interest in faith. She's concerned about the movement of celestial bodies and "the brotherhood of all". Although her former slave doesn't see it that way.

8. Secrets of the Heart (1997)
Genre: Drama
Director: Montxo Armendáriz
Cast: Andoni Erburu, Silvia Munt, Charo López

Plot: Javi and his friend Carlos snoop around an old house on the way home from school. According to his brother Juan this is a haunted house and one can hear the voices of the dead. Later he is intrigued with a room which is always closed (the room where his father was found dead). He is so interested in these mysteries that he starts to investigate all the secrets of these dead people and their stories.

9. The Impossible (2012)
Genres: Drama / Thriller
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland

Plot: A regular family - Maria, Henry and their three kids - travel to Thailand to spend Christmas. They get an upgrade to a villa on the coastline. After settling in and exchanging gifts, they go to the pool, like so many other tourists. A perfect paradise vacation until a distant noise becomes a roar. There is no time to escape from the tsunami; Maria and her eldest are swept one way, Henry and the youngest another. Who will survive, and what will become of them?

10. The Skin I Live In (2011)
Genre: Thriller
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes

Plot: In honor of his late wife who died in a flaming car accident, scientist, Dr. Robert Ledgard, is trying to synthesize the perfect skin which can withstand burns, cuts or any other kind of damage. As he gets closer to perfecting this skin on his flawless patient, the scientific community starts growing skeptical and his past is revealed that shows how his patient is closely linked to tragic events he would like to forget.

Upcoming European Films of 2016

1. La corrispondenza (Italy)

The Correspondence tells the tale of love and loss, a story of Amy (Olga Kurylenko), a young PhD student who takes excessive risks in her paid work as a stuntwoman. Her specialties are the action scenes, the acrobatics full of suspense, the danger that in fiction would typically end with the death of the double. It is through her relationship with an older astrophysics professor (Jeremy Irons) that she learns to reconcile past and present and face life’s vicissitudes.

2. Salt and Fire (Germany)

Based on a true story, Hans Fallada’s powerful and redemptive novel, written shortly after the Second World War, describes a city paralyzed by fear. Otto and Anna Quangel are an ordinary couple living in a shabby apartment block in Berlin trying, like everyone else, to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when their only child is killed fighting at the front, their loss propels them into an extraordinary act of resistance. They start to drop anonymous postcards all over the city attacking Hitler and his regime. If caught, it means certain execution. Soon their campaign comes to the attention of the Gestapo inspector, Escherich, and a murderous game of cat-and-mouse begins. But the game serves only to strengthen Otto and Anna’s sense of purpose, and slowly their drab lives and marriage are transformed as they unite in their quiet but profound rebellion.

3. Julieta (Spain)

The film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar based on three short stories from the book Runaway (2004) by Alice Munro. The film marks Almodóvar's 20th feature and stars Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as older and younger versions of the film's protagonist, Julieta, alongside Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta, Darío Grandinetti, Michelle Jenner and Rossy de Palma.
The film protagonist Julieta lives in Madrid and has just lost her husband Xoan. Her daughter, Antía, has just turned 18 and decides to run away without any explanation. Julieta searches by all means to find her, but the only thing she discovers is how little she knows her daughter.

4. From the Land of the Moon (France)

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Milena Agus, follows a French woman in post-World War II Europe who’s torn between the man she’s meant to marry (Àlex Brendemühl) and a charming war veteran (Louis Garrel).
The movie is directed by Nicole Garcia, who also wrote the script with Jacques Fieschi. It was produced by Alain Attal of Les Productions du Tresor.

5. Viking (Russia)

Historical action film by director Andrei Kravchuk, based on the historical document Primary Chronicle and Icelandic Kings' sagas. Screen International has called it Russia's Game of Thrones. The films stars Danila Kozlovsky and Svetlana Khodchenkova.
Kievan Rus, late 10th century. After the death of his father, Svyatoslav I, ruler of Kievan Rus, the young Viking prince Vladimir (Danila Kozlovsky) is forced into exile across the frozen sea in Sweden to escape his treacherous half-brother Yaropolk, who has murdered his other brother Oleg and conquered the Viking territory of Kievan Rus. The old warrior Sveneld convinces Vladimir to assemble a Varangian armada, hoping to reconquer Kiev from Yaropolk and ultimately face the mighty Byzantine forces.

6. Brimstone (Netherlands)

An upcoming western thriller film, written and directed by Martin Koolhoven. The film stars Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Kit Harington and Carice van Houten.
A triumphant epic of survival and a tale of powerful womanhood and resistance against the unforgiving cruelty of a hell on earth. Our heroine is Liz (Dakota Fanning), carved from the beautiful wilderness, full of heart and grit, hunted by a vengeful Preacher (Guy Pearce) - a diabolical zealot and her twisted nemesis. But Liz is a genuine survivor; she's no victim - a woman of fearsome strength who responds with astonishing bravery to claim the better life she and her daughter deserve.

7. Alone in Berlin (Germany)

A war drama film directed by Vincent Pérez and written by Pérez and Achim von Borries, based on the 1947 fictionalized novel Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada. In 1940, a working-class couple in World War II-era Berlin, Otto and Anna Quangel, decide to resist Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, after receiving the news of the death of their only son. They start writing postcards to urge people to stand against Hitler and the Nazis and protest against them. Escherich is the Gestapo inspector charged with finding the source of the postcards.

8. Personal Shopper (France)

A film written and directed by Olivier Assayas. Stars Kristen Stewart (as Maureen), Anders Danielsen Lie, Lars Eidinger and David Bowles. Revolves around a ghost story that takes place in the fashion underworld of Paris.

9. A Hologram for the King (Germany)

An upcoming comedy-drama film directed and written by Tom Tykwer, based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Dave Eggers. Film stars Tom Hanks and Ben Whishaw. The film tells the story of a washed-up, desperate American salesman who travels to Saudi Arabia to secure the IT contract for a massive new complex being built in the middle of the desert.

10. HHhH (France)

The World War II thriller film based on the Laurent Binet's fictional novel HHhH about the Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. Cédric Jimenez directed the film based on the script he co-wrote with David Farr and Audrey Diwan.
1942: The Third Reich is at its peak. The Czech resistance in London decides to plan the most ambitious military operation of WWII: Anthropoid. Two young recruits in their late twenties, Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, are sent to Prague to assassinate the most ruthless Nazi leader - Reich-protector Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the SS, the Gestapo, and the architect of the 'Final Solution'.

Dunkirk - Christopher Nolan's Next Film

Following up on earlier reports Warner Bros. has confirmed that Chris Nolan will direct 'Dunkirk' from his own original screenplay as his next project about Dunkirk evacuation. He'll also produce the film with his longtime producing partner and wife, Emma Thomas. Film website - The Playlist claims Nolan and his screenwriter brother Jonathan have been scouting locations in France.
The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France between 27 May and 4 July 1940, during Second World War. The operation was decided upon when large numbers of Belgian, British and French troops were cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France.
Warner Bros. has dated the film for July 21, 2017. The large-scale production will be shot on a combination of Imax 65mm and 65mm large format film for maximum image quality and high-impact immersion. Shooting will begin in May using many of the real locations of the true-life events, which form the background for the story. Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh and Cillian Murphy will be part of an actors ensemble. Hans Zimmer'll be the composer for this film. Hoyte van Hoytema joined the team as cinematographer. It would be Nolan's first film explicitly based on real-life events, and only his second period feature (following 2006's The Prestige).