by Jade Conroy

She’s the leading lady of Spanish cinema, the face of L’Oreal and has just become the second Spaniard to receive an Oscar, for her role as the psychotic María Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It has to be said that Penélope Cruz’s CV appears to be faultless, not to mention being one of the most beautiful women in the continent. So why do so many Spaniards feel hostility towards their “Spanish sweetheart”?

Penélope has a considerable filmography with an assortment of both international and Spanish films. Starting at a mere 17 years old she quickly became the Spanish girl-next-door, with director Pedro Almodóvar being her ticket to worldwide fame. Her recent Oscar victory for Best Supporting Actress has consolidated her international success so it seems somewhat of a contradiction that she is criticised so avidly by her own people. Many believe that she is overly praised for acting skills and that she plays the same roles, like a Spanish version of Hugh Grant. All of her characters are plagued with either vulnerability or emotional turmoil. She has in fact admitted, “I’m always drawn to play people who suffer because I feel more for them”. Whatever her choice in roles, she does play them well. Besides winning 3 Premios Goya, she was nominated for Best Actress for her part as Raimunda in Volver and this year managed to receive her first Academy Award. The only other Spaniard to have ever received an Oscar is in fact her current boyfriend, Javier Bardem.

Perhaps this is why she is disliked so much. Despite stating that Madrid will always be her home, Penélope also lives in Los Angeles. She has embraced the Hollywood scene wholeheartedly, maybe something that the Spaniards find hard to grasp and resent, which is strikingly similar to French bitterness towards Juliette Binoche. Some feel that other Spanish actresses like Carmen Maura or Blanca Portilla are more deserving of an Oscar- which may be true- but this does not devalue Penélope’s performance.

Penélope’s often talked about personal life may also be a source of ill feeling because she represents the peninsula on an international stage. Her string of relationships form an obvious pattern (she is renowned for dating her co-stars); Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey and not to mention an alleged liaison with Nicolas Cage after Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Now she is currently dating her male counterpart from Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Javier Bardem, and the couple have created a “Posh and Becks” style of hysteria in Madrid. Yet Penélope refuses to disclose any information about her personal life to the press, including her partners and thoughts on motherhood, which in my opinion is an admirable trait.

Whether you love her or hate her, no one can deny that Penélope has got that exotic va-va-voom so many up and coming actresses today lack. Funnily enough, on asking my flatmates and work colleagues if they liked her, they all said yes, stating that the hatred people feel towards her stems from a little something we like to call the Green Eyed Monster…

Ruthie Rambles… The Ritz, Madrid….

Press Conference with Danny Boyle.

by Ruth Kenny

“ Why so serious, you all look so serious?” (The Dark Knight) were the opening words from Danny Boyle whose Press Conference I attended a fortnight ago. Boyle was in Madrid for the premiere of Slumdog Millionaire which cleaned up at this years Academy Awards Ceremony. The film won 8 Oscars with Boyle deservedly winning Best Director. Slumdog showcases Boyles talent and captures the megalopolis of verve and sparkle that is Mumbai.
Its Oscar victory provided a fairytale ending for the production with a rags-to-riches story that mirrored its own chronicle of a Mumbai street boy heading for the jackpot on the Indian version of TV quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Last summer, Slumdog Millionaire was without a distributor in the US and seemed to lack the criteria that lead to Oscar success. Not only does it have no well-known actors, but most of the cast had never appeared in another film. Also, about a fifth of the dialogue is in Hindi and sub-titled in English. The savvy Danny Boyle exuded charisma and charm and provided a wealth of amusing anecdotes on the production.

Speaking about the film Boyle said: “The reception of the film has been extraordinary.”
The film is based on the vibrant Indian narrative ‘Q and A’ by novelist and diplomat Vikus Swarup. Swarup has also been forthcoming in his praise of the film , saying that it was, “Beautiful and the plot was riveting”. They took the central idea of a kid who wants to be a millionaire from the novel but all of the episodes are invented by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy.

The core of the film centres around the underdog and rooting for the underdog. Similar to the Rocky story it is a kid from nowhere with nothing but a dream. The gameshow is merely a pretext ; the spine of the story centres around Latika (Freida Pinto) and Jamal’s (Dev Patel) mission to be reunited against the odds.

The crew was mainly comprised of Bollywood actors and Boyle affirmed that the reservoir of talent in Bollywood was vast. The crew were surprised that the film was shot in a real slum. Normally for Bollywood they build a ‘clean slum’ on set but this would not suffice for Boyle who executed the production with panache.

Boyle explained that young male actors in Bollywood are normally very built-up, but he wanted someone who looked like a loser for the role of leading protagonist. Acting upon the advice of his daughter, Londoner, Dev Patel (stars in U.K series Skins) was cast!

The most interesting time for Boyle was editing the film, as he claimed the film seemed to edit itself. There is no device in the film for mixing time but rather time is mixed very freely as in the mind. The only live bit is at the end of the film, everything else is a memory. This type of construction is normally used by an old person looking back, however in this case Jamal is only 18 when the film ends, so his memories set him free, which makes the film uplifting.

Boyle referred to Suketu Mehta’s book “Maximum City” about Mumbai as being a great source of information on the city. Mehta’s book is a textured portrait of the city of contrast and culture that is modern-day Mumbai. It captures the underbelly of the city with the inquisitiveness of a voyeur and is well worth a read for those who want to learn more about this changing city.

Speaking about film-making in general, Boyle said that your first film is always your best because of its freshness. Before shooting, Boyle had never been to Mumbai or India. This facilitated his crisp perspective in capturing India and its irrepressable energy so compellingly.
He said that films have a tendency to pick you, “Like stray dogs they follow you home, you end up making the same film time and again.”

Also discussed was the British obsession with toilets! Two pivotal scenes of the film take place in the loo. The first when Jamal falls into the toilet before getting the autograph of Amitabh Bachchan and the second being when he is fed the wrong answer to the penultimate question by the gameshow host.

I adored the film’s soundtrack, which brings the rhythm of India to life. AR Rahmen, India’s answer to Timbaland, became the first Indian to win a Golden Globe for and an Oscar for best original song Jai Ho. Commenting upon the music scene in Mumbai, Boyle said that, “The fusion of music styles in Bollywood is never subtle..it is bang-bang music to be noticed,” and the musical score of the film encapsulates this with flourish.

The film ends with a vibrant dance scene at the train station,which for me captures the essence of the film. To truly enjoy this film one must be prepared to throw preconceptions aside and go with it. The rich and vibrant setting of Mumbai provides a fitting backdrop for this multifaceted love legend.

With the kaleidoscopic views of Bombastic Bombay and the energy injected into its production… you’re in for a treat… However, there is no room for scepticism in this is a coming-of-age fairytale so my advice to the cynics…stay at home!

Slumdog’s Oscar Success:
1. Best Director: Danny Boyle
2. Best Picture
3. Best Adapted Screenplay
4. Cinematography
5. Sound mixing
6. Film Editing
7. Best Original Score
8. Best Original Song : Jai Ho

MOVIE REVIEW
Quarantine (Spain release 9 January 2009)

by Tim Anderson

For those who remember the creepy Spanish film from last year [REC], you may be surprised to see a remake out so quickly, but then it’s Hollywood, so making a quick buck is never a long conversation. So here it is, repackaged for the Americans as Quarantine, an atmospheric and sometimes gory horror flick, which relies on its hand-held camera direction to create the tension and shocks rather than any logical sense of story development.
Reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) takes on the story of her childhood dreams to follow around a fire crew on a typical night shift in downtown LA. Things go swimmingly until they receive a distress call from an apartment block where screams have been heard from one of the apartments. What follows is a discovery that takes the story into a question of survival and escape as Angela and her faithful cameraman record the all the action of the unfolding events.

Seen solely through the reporting cameraman’s lens, there are direct influences from The Blair Witch Project which so successfully captured the claustrophobic atmosphere and nervous hands of the recorder in setting the scene. The pacing is steady, and while the explanations merely confuse each other, thankfully more time is spent watching characters is panic freefall.

Quarantine is great undemanding horror entertainment. After leaving, I found myself quickly questioning why some characters and plot twists happened (surely it’s easier to run without trying to film the guy chasing you!) but instead of noticing the holes greater than a Wall Street balance sheet, I decided to revel in its generally well acted and moody flow. A few jumps and shocks is all you really ask for seeing this film, and it’s all you really get.

by Tim Anderson

Cocktail, clever gadgets, beautiful woman, meglomaniacal bad guys, fast cars, exotic locations, gambling and the most cheesy of pick up lines and kill lines around. If you don´t know what I am talking about yet, get your head back in the sand. Male escapists’ paradise, James Bond. What else could an action fan want?

Apparently something else.

Ever since Jason Bourne arrived as the latest big screen action spy, there have been predictions of the demise of the Bond franchise, 45 years of iconic images been finally expelled in a new era of action film heroes. Bourne was faster, smarter, darker and represents a return to the troubled gritty action hero, rather than the smooth, it-all-comes-too-easily high-flying world of Pierce Brosnan’s MI6 agent.

But then re-invented Bond came back,imperfect and impervious, with muscles for action and a dislike for pleasure, troubled by his conscience, a cold hearted killer making good mileage on his Licence to Kill. Although being touted as potentially the worst choice for a Bond ever, Daniel Craig made Casino Royale a huge success.Bond had become just an ordinary spy again, sorting out the extraordinary world around him.

And if Casino Royale re-introduced James Bond to the world again, Quantum of Solace looks likely to cement him as the hardest spy on the block (although whoever came up with that title ought to be killed off in a brutal opening credits scene).

Bourne will have his turn for stealing back his mantle but he’ll be against it. Let’s face it , he’s always running away anyway, so maybe they should send 007 to get him, a sort of spy- off. Here’s the plot…

James Bond is hunting rogue agent Jason Bourne, who after losing his memory somewhere in transit, starts planning the downfall of the world from his secret mountain hideout in Morocco. But this time it´s personal for Bond, because Bourne stole his latin goddess,  Lotti Luvin, from under his nose while he was at the bar collecting martini´s. So Bond is on a mission. Though Haiti, Madagasca and Berlin via India he tracks down the elusive Bourne. First he takes out the cheating girl by tripping her up while she´s carrying the Pina Colada´s to the pool, skewering herself with the cocktail sticks in her eyes leaving her with 2 pineapples for eyeballs. “You don’t want to pin-a- colada to your face darling!” He laughs sarcastically.  Then Bourne is on the run again.

Cue numerous chase scenes in Aston Martins, a fight with gondola paddles and an escape from an aligator pit by running on their long noses (wait, that was done somewhere already..).

Bond will have to win though. He’d been around the longest, has the better female company and the baddest enemies to fight. Oh, and the best introduction line…. “The name’s Bond……”

by Katie Chavez

My problem with porn is not that it objectifies women, but that the women never seem to be having a particularly good time. The fake moans, the backs that arch out of rhythm; let’s face it: most porn is just bad sex in interesting positions. We women need a little more than that. And Val, the main character in Diario de una Ninfómana definitely makes sure she gets what she needs.

That’s not to say that El Diario de una Ninfómana is only a movie about sex. Rather thankfully, the sex is secondary to the story, not the story in and of itself. We are first introduced to the main character, Val, as she is visiting her beloved grandmother in France. Val narrates the beginnings of her sexual discovery, and we cut between images of her sitting on a bench eating an apple (could that be the forbidden apple, perhaps?) and her fifteen-year-old self losing her virginity. In that first experience, she says, she discovers her body as an instrument, as a way to communicate with others and with the universe. It is how she makes a divine connection to the world. Consequently, Val develops an insatiable thirst for physical pleasure, and the first section of the movie is in great part dedicated to the detailed exploration of her exploitations.

Fortunately, as the movie continues, we see more and more of the humanity in Val, as a woman on a journey of self-discovery. Sexual objectification unfolds into an exploration as to the why of sex, rather than just the fact of it. In other words, what is Val really looking for in her sexual encounters? We follow Val through the loss, relationship crises, and professional roller coasters (I won’t spoil the surprise). The extreme focus on pure sexual pleasure widens, until it is contextualized within interpersonal relationships and the foibles of day-to-day life.

What I enjoyed about Diario was that it explored what is still too often the taboo subject of women’s sexuality, without over-reaching into preachy or self-righteousness and also avoiding the distancing explicitness of pornography. For once, sex is portrayed as a way to make contact, to connect, a simple truth so rarely communicated in such an honest and forthright manner. We all look for help in our existential development; some find religion, others try drugs, while others might travel the world. There are nearly as many possibilities as there are people. Val uses sex to find herself, but in the end, it’s just an honest movie about a woman learning to live.

By Will Cade

When I first came to Europe, I was amazed by how much my Erasmus friends knew about the U.S. I was even more amazed at how almost all of them who spoke English as a second language used more American slang than I did. When my friends started asking me questions, though, I discovered why. “Does everyone at American parties really drink out of red plastic cups” they would ask, “like in the movies?”

The American film and television industry spreads my native tongue across the continents, where the majority of countries just add subtitles to the original American English. Along with my favorite linguistic nuances, the industry also spreads a commercialized, well-packaged image of American culture. But this culture consists of more than red party cups, gas guzzling cars, and gun fights in the street: it has a darker side which rarely shows itself in the blockbusters exported to the rest of the globe.

Before seeing the prescreening for “An American Crime,” due out in Spain on June 13^th, I didn’t know anything about the film. Judging by the name, I expected another American cop and robber caper flick, slam-packed with hot blondes, fast cars, and catchy one-liners. It wasn’t until I saw “Based on the State of Indiana vs. Baniszewski (1966)” on the screen that I realized I was in for a totally different ride.

Two sisters, Sylvia and Jennie – whose parents are traveling carnival workers – are left to live with a poor mother of six, Gertrude Baniszewski, just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana during the mid 1960s. Mr. and Mrs. Likens may be traveling with the carnival, but Sylvia and Jennie find themselves in the middle of a circus. Instead of lions to tame and rings of fire to jump through, these sisters have to navigate a dysfunctional family overflowing with sickness, teenage pregnancy, and sexual perversion, topped off with a Baptist’s penchant for shame, repentance, and punishment. A few teenage misunderstandings take place, and gradually these horrendous tendencies snowball into one of the most emotionally disturbing films to have ever come out of the North American Continent. The physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual torture is as upsetting as “Schindler’s List,” yet it takes place within a family and a small town instead of an entire nation.

This family, however, represents many of the heinous tendencies underlying the glamor and success of American culture. This may not be obvious at first glance, but if you pay attention to some of the symbols in the film – like the basement and the coke bottle or the bibles and the cigarettes – it might become more clear. Just bear in mind that throughout its history American culture has been struggling with the same conflicting forces that originated from its first two colonies: Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. Essentially, Jamestown was an experiment in Capitalism, while Plymouth Rock was an experiment in Christian Extremism. Up until today, most political and social issues in the U.S. have strong traces if not direct links to these same cultural forces, sometimes intertwining in extreme and grotesque ways.

In any case, this is most definitely not a date movie, but if you want to stomach the inner demons of American culture for a few hours, never again able to see the U.S. in the same light, than I admire your courage – and if it weren’t for the weak American dollar, I might even buy you a ticket.

Don’t forget it is now possible to listen to all new European Vibe Magazine articles and download them for FREE to your computer and MP3 player.

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¡Mejora tu inglés con los “listening” del podcast y lee los artículos de la revista!
Apropiado desde un nivel intermedio hasta muy avanzado, este material es 100% auténtico y una forma tan buena como amena de avanzar.
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by Khilen Mehta

As we hit the long weekend in Madrid, many of you will be wondering what there is to do if you stay here. Well, now into its 5th year, Documenta Madrid will be running from the 2nd- 11th May and is guaranteed to provide entertainment for people of all ages.

Presently the city’s most widely attended film festival, Documenta Madrid is an international film festival which is dedicated exclusively to the screening of documentaries. According to the producers of the festival, the main aim is, ¨For the purpose of strengthening and disseminating the documentary genre, insofar as it understood to be a reflection of the social, cultural, economic, artistic, environmental, and other realities that exist in the world.¨

Through the selection of films, the festival provides an annual meeting point for workers, producers and the general public to whom the documentaries are aimed towards. The organisers aim to try and make the viewers relate to what is being portrayed on the screen and therefore all the films are subject to qualititive criteria and all critical opinions and viewpoints are considered.

The festival is divided up into three different blocks of activites, which means there is something for everyone to enjoy: screenings (in both public and private screening rooms, and in their original language and formats), parallel activities (publications, exhibitions, presentations, gatherings, round tables, DVD releases, etc.), and training activities (conferences, instructional classes, workshops, etc.).

During the last five years, Documenta Madrid has established a reputation of being one of the most influential documentary festivals worldwide. The films portray a strong image of a modern day issue whcih the audience can then relate to. The organizers hope the audience will then reflect upon these issues and possibly even act upon them to make a change in the world.

So if you are stuck for something to do this long weekend, head down to one of the screenings or workshops where you could witness something that could take your breath away!

http://www.documentamadrid.com/

By Ryan Craggs 

Going into a press screening of an Al Pacino film, I had only seen the trailer and a brief synopsis on IMDB. That said, I expected an intense character study out of the film’s star—this is Al Pacino, after all.

The story goes something like this: Pacino portrays Dr. Jack Gramm, a forensic psychologist living in Seattle. Nearly ten years prior, Gramm’s testimony played a crucial role in finding Jon Forster (Neal McDonough) guilty in a string of serial murders. A lack of physical evidence made Gramm’s testimony all that much more important. The crux of the film take place today, the day of Forster’s execution.

Gramm receives a phone call telling him he has 88 minutes to live, hence the title. The majority of the film finds Gramm running around, trying to find out who made the call and how that person plans to kill him. In the meantime, Forster seeks a stay of execution, claiming innocence.

The premise alone makes the film a thriller, but at the same time it’s one of its shortcomings. It’s gimmicky, having only 88 minutes to solve this mystery, and at times it seems that Gramm isn’t as focused as one would be with under an hour and a half to live. The cast itself is well rounded, with a few familiar faces, but somehow every woman in Gramm’s life is beautiful. At times, the dialogue is stiff and sounds contrived, especially when Kim (Alicia Witt) talks to Gramm. It’s also curious why Special Agent Frank Parks, played by William Forsythe, disappears throughout most of the film. It would make more sense for an FBI agent to help with some of the legwork.

Pacino portrays a bombastic, egotistical character, a part he pulls off with ease; larger-than-life characters are his specialty. The problem is that we know this is a man approaching 70 in real life, and seeing him run around to take on the world is a little tough to swallow. Action films shouldn’t be his forte at this point. A scene where Gramm clamors around a parking garage attempting to stop cars driven by a murderer doesn’t make much sense. Why would a murderer stop to talk?

Though 88 Minutes isn’t Pacino’s finest hour (or hour and twenty eight minutes, to be precise), the film should leave most guessing who the murderer is throughout. That alone may make the film worth seeing for many—just don’t go in expecting anything more.

Out on 4th April, The Contract is just one of a few new releases our Yelmo cinema tickets competition winner might choose to see.
Jenny Balu came out of the hat to scoop her prize of five tickets to use at Madrid multiplex Yelmo Cine Ideal.
She correctly answered the following questions:

Daniel Day Lewis won an Academy Award in 1989 for Best Actor for which film?
My Left Foot

Name the film which Daniel Day Lewis was nominated for Best Actor for the part as Gerry Conlon in 1993?
In The Name Of The Father

Well done to her, another five cinema tickets can be won in April’s cinema competition in European Vibe Magazine.