Watch out, it's time for dramedy here at Ex-Ninja. But it's not just an ordinary dramedy, instead it's of special interest for us aficionado's of eurocult. Starring lovable Spanish character star Javier Cámara as Alfredo, this is the essence of a heart-warming, feel-good movie, but with a wonderful spin. I felt attracted to the storyline without already knowing what I would later find in it, but there's always something magical with the celebration of filmmaking, or storytelling... or just the power of creation. Pablo Berger pushes every button in the mainstream American comedy genre (but in that warm, intelligent Spanish way), and does it with hight EQ and IQ, two things that rarely comes together.
Alfredo (Cámara) plays a hapless salesman of lexicon's about the Spanish civil war. No one wants a lexicon about the Spanish civil war, and now when those sales stands for 1 percent for the company's total sale, it's time to shut the department down and... start something new! Alfredo is invited to a luxury weekend in the mountains together with his wife Carmen (Candela Peña) where they learn that to be able to continue to work they must start making... sex movies. NO WAY! Well, at least until they understand that 50000 pesetas will be payed for each film. Alfredo and Carmen gets caught in the filmmaking passion and soon Alfredo gets a lot bigger plans than so. He's gonna make his magnum opus called Torremolinos 73, an arthouse exploitation film set in the hotels of Torremolinos, a macabre passion-drama about love and death...
Yes. What Alfredo bascially do is to become a Jess Franco for one single movie. With a splash of Jean Rollin, but this is essentinally - partly - a tribute to the cinema of Franco and what the 70's did to exploitation film. Now, Torremolinos 73 is mostly a dramedy set in their apartment and at the office, but slowly we're drawn into Alfredo's vision of sex and death - shot in black & white, with a man dressed in a black cape following a woman around the empty tourist streets... it's poetic and absurd, edgy - the way Franco did it during this period, but with the pretentiousness (in a good way) of Rollin.
This is not a judgemental movie. It's a movie that encourages to creativity, to love, to do what the hell you want to do. It's way to say to people: fuck what you're doing, there's so much else in life. I see myself in Alfredo, but in my case I quit a destructive and depressing office job to start freelancing behind and in front of the camera. I will never regret that, and that's the message of Torremolinos 73.
Like most Spanish movies the actors are natural and colorful, but this being a co-production with Demark, several Danish (and Swedish) actors makes guest apperances. Nowadays Mads Mikkelsen is a superstar, but I think he still made one of his best performances here as a naive, cute, friendly porn actor named Magnus. This part got him in trouble from the moronic Danish gossip press who years later continued to claim that Mikkelsen made a porn movie.
There's something beautiful with deserted tourist areas. The highrise hotels above you, endless beaches, labyrinth's of corridors inside. The strict architecture. No wonder Franco found so much inspiration in these areas. That's also what I see in this movie, where creative freedom is found not in your home or office, but in a neutral place, a place where people meet and communicate.
The first time I saw Torrimolinos 73 I cried of laughter. This time... I enjoyed the human beauty much more. It's not that funny actually, it's just life. Nothing else.
And it can be quite beautiful if you want to.
"This is not a judgemental movie. It's a movie that encourages to creativity, to love, to do what the hell you want to do. It's way to say to people: fuck what you're doing, there's so much else in life."
Yeah, this is that kind of movie I think...let´s not forget that this film is also a story of a frustrated artist.
"Like most Spanish movies the actors are natural and colorful, but this being a co-production with Demark, several Danish (and Swedish) actors makes guest apperances."
That really surprised me but in a good way.
"Nowadays Mads Mikkelsen is a superstar, but I think he still made one of his best performances here as a naive, cute, friendly porn actor named Magnus."
He was very good here, also Thomas Bo Larsen performances is very good.
"This part got him in trouble from the moronic Danish gossip press who years later continued to claim that Mikkelsen made a porn movie."
I didn´t even know that.
"The first time I saw Torrimolinos 73 I cried of laughter. This time... I enjoyed the human beauty much more. It's not that funny actually, it's just life. Nothing else.
And it can be quite beautiful if you want to."
It is very bittersweet story, and that scene when Carmen decides to have a baby.....gives me goosebumps.
Great review, I really liked this film.
Posted by: Megatron | July 15, 2013 at 16:59
This is a Movie i like.
Posted by: tobe | July 17, 2013 at 01:17