Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1961 • Spain
Starring Cassen, José Luis López Vázquez, Elvira Quintillá
Widely considered one of the greatest works of Spanish cinema, this relentlessly paced satire chronicles an ill-advised charity campaign sweeping across a small industrial town on Christmas Eve. The brainchild of attention-hungry society women, the holiday initiative encourages wealthy citizens to break bread with the less fortunate—“if only for one night.” As the festivities devolve into a grotesque media frenzy, a struggling family man enlisted to help on the project desperately tries to make a payment on his three-wheeler before it is repossessed. Marking the start of Berlanga’s fruitful collaboration with screenwriter Rafael Azcona, this delightfully cacophonous takedown of upper-class hypocrisy unfolds in expertly choreographed long takes that showcase the director as a master of comedic mischief.
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The Executioner
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1963 • Italy, Spain
Starring Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, José IsbertThis masterpiece of black humor, beloved in Spain but too little seen elsewhere, threads a scathing critique of Franco-era values through a macabre farce about an undertaker who marries an ex...
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La boutique
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1967 • Spain
Starring Sonia Bruno, Rodolfo Bebán, Osvaldo MirandaLuis García Berlanga’s follow-up to his masterpiece THE EXECUTIONER is a dark marital satire in which ignored housewife Carmen (Sonia Bruno) follows her mother’s advice and takes drastic action i...
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Long Live the Bride and Groom
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1970 • Spain
Starring José Luis López Vázquez, Laly Soldevila, José María PradaIn this black-comic sex farce, middle-aged bank clerk Leonardo (José Luis López Vázquez) travels to the Mediterranean tourist town of Sitges to marry his bride-to-be, Loli (Laly Sol...
