Los ojos de Julia/Julia's Eyes

"It took its time but I think that's why I loved it so much, when it finally came good it packed one of the best punches of the year."

 Following on from the well liked blog of Spanish film The Skin I Live In here are my thoughts on Julia's Eyes. The film is another collaboration between Guillermo del Toro (Producer) and actress Belén Rueda, following on from The Orphanage.  Unlike the last few reviews I have posted on here I can not soak Julia's Eyes with enough praise. 


Julia's Eyes starts with a very iconic scene when Julia's sister that has become blind mounts a stall to commit suicide and has the stall knocked away from a mystery invisible man (this features heavily in the trailers).  Julia then takes on the mystery and tackles what she believes to be a murder and not the suicide the police and her husband are convinced it is. It may have been my knowledge of del Toro's involvement but it seemed to have his stamp all over it. I started to worry that as the film progressed and the suspension of horror built it would never deliver the killer punch.


It took its time but I think that's why I loved it so much, when it finally came good it packed one of the best punches of the year. Julia's Eyes started to remind me of The Shining, especially as I began to shout at the screen maybe it was because I  just saw people running after each other with crazed looks and knives. Julia's Eyes made me fall in love with world cinema all over again and further ignite my passion for Spanish language films. I concede that del Toro may have now found his perfect range but if it provokes films such as Julia's Eyes bring them on thick and fast. Julia's Eyes is without question one of my films of 2011. 

The Skin I Live In

Introducing Mireia Nicolas the first guest blogger to the Films blah blah blah world, hopefully she'll provide many more. A great review for a film I recently had a lot to say about in Small Films For Big Cinemas

La piel que habito / The skin I live in (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011)

Almodóvar has always been a love-him-or-hate-him kind of director, especially in his (and my) home country, Spain. I must admit that, even though I loved Volver with all my heart (he always manages to get the best out of Penélope Cruz) I was on the hate-him side. I always thought he gave an awful image of Spain – I was worried the irony in his colourful films, so outrageous and crazy and stereotypical, so evident for the Spanish audiences, would be lost on others and make them think Spaniards were actually like this, and quite frankly, in a world where people think Mexican hats are Spanish and that Spain is somewhere between Venezuela and Brazil, it was kind of thanks but no, thanks. Anyway, I am digressing.

One of my best friends found a job in Montreal and before leaving, he suggested we go see The skin I live in and for tapas (don’t judge us, we are Spanish). I was slightly wary, but I am not going to see my friend for a very, very long time so I accepted. Boy, were we in for a ride! The skin I live in can’t be described easily, nor can I talk about its plot freely. It tells the story of plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Lergard, (played by Banderas) who is obsessed with his mysterious patient Vera, (played by Elena Anaya). Vera/Anaya wears a full-body cat suit and spends her days doing yoga and creating art. She is secluded in a room in a big, beautiful estate near Toledo (Spain), where Banderas lives with his housekeeper, Marilia (played by Marisa Paredes, another constant actress in Almodóvar’s world) and the service. Soon we learn Lergard/Banderas has been experimenting with genetically modified human skin, in humans. The film goes back and forth in time, showing moments that explain us who Lergard, Vera and Marilia are.

Formally outstanding, the film offers some moments that are truly uncomfortable, so much that rumour has it during its premiere in Cannes some people started giggling nervously, the kind of giggle you can’t supress when you feel so awfully uncomfortable you either start giggling or just go away. The characters are tortured, crazy, deranged, their actions only comprehensible to them. The music is tortured, crazy, deranged – the soundtrack is excellent, sharp violins that go hand in hand with the images and keep the viewer on the edge of the seat. Banderas’ acting is outstanding, although his accent is a bit off at times, an Andalusian trying to speak in a normal Spanish accent – something anyway that only a very picky Spanish speaker like me would notice. However, it is not a film where he speaks a lot, a trait which is awfully unsettling – every time he is about to speak you worry he will do something terrible. Dr Ledgard is truly scary. Elena Anaya’s Vera is mysterious, alluring: her eyes tell a thousand stories in every single close up, her skin glows and glistens, her face wonderfully perfect, wonderfully crazy. She is the key to Bandera’s obsession, and it is only in the very end that we understand why. Marisa Paredes once again proves why she is one of the great actresses in the Spanish-speaking world, her character nurturing but at the same time unfriendly.

All in all, The skin I live in is an unsettling, impressive film that will leave you without words. Go and watch it. 8/10.

Small Films For Big Cinemas

"In a time when we have lost the UK Film Council we should be championing great British films, instead we are being swamped by the left overs of the summer blockbusters. "

Fancy going to see a great new film this weekend? Well I hope you live in a big city or you may be in for a lengthy car journey, this is what many will face this weekend with the apparent non-release of Kill List and The Skin I Live In. I know there are some great independent cinemas around the country that need out much needed attention, however the this post concentrates on the distribution of films by Odeon Cinemas, this should not be viewed as an attack on them but a question of how one of the largest cinema companies in Europe decides what films to screen.

After the great reviews Kill List has been getting I planned to book tickets for its opening weekend at my local Odeon (Coventry) however I soon discovered the film is not been shown at all. Instead my local Odeon is screening Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 now in its 8th week and dominated by hits such as The Smurfs 3D and new release Friends With Benefits. After searching the Odeon cinemas where I could watch Kill List I found out it is only being shown at only 10 Odeon cinemas. In fact the nearest Odeon showing Kill List is in Manchester roughly 78.29 miles from my house. In a time when we have lost the UK Film Council we should be championing great British films, instead we are being swamped by the left overs of the summer blockbusters. The same applies with The Skin I Live In, although I put its marginalisation down to it being a foreign language film (Spanish) even the stardom of Antonio Banderas could not give it a bigger presence in Odeon cinemas.

Although I am not a professional film critic or do I work in any capacity for the film industry, I do know that the screening and distribution of films works on a supply and demand system and that Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2's long run this summer is a testament to its box office success. The box office takings both Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Smurfs 3D can in my opinion be partly explained by their 3D versions. I urge you people in such "big cities" (Manchester,Liverpool, London, Edinburgh) to go and see the films that are slipping under the Odeon radar.