Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1953 • Spain
Starring Lolita Sevilla, Manolo Morán, José Isbert
A distant land shrouded in myth and rumor, America looms large in the cultural imagination of a quiet Castilian village, whose impressionable inhabitants dream of benefitting from the country’s postwar plans to aid Europe. When word gets out that a delegation of U.S. diplomats plans to pay a visit, the townsfolk of Villar del Río waste no time in erecting a fantasy worthy of Uncle Sam’s favor, transforming their austere surroundings into a tourist-friendly vision of Andalusian kitsch. With a sly irreverence that led Cannes juror Edward G. Robinson to declare it un-American, Luis García Berlanga’s international breakthrough lampoons the smoke and mirrors that shape national identities from both within and without.
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Boyfriend in Sight
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1954 • Spain
Starring Josette Arno, Jorge Vico, Julia Caba AlbaThe often unruly in-betweenness of adolescence is the subject of this bittersweet comedy from director Luis García Berlanga. It’s the summer of 1918 and fifteen-year-old Loli (Josette Arno) has bee...
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The Rocket from Calabuch
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1956 • Spain
Starring Edmund Gwenn, Valentina Cortese, Juan CalvoIn one of Luis García Berlanga’s gentlest comedies, an aging American scientist (Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn) goes incognito, trading in his career as a prominent atomic-bomb expert for a tranquil ...
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Miracles of Thursday
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1957 • Spain
Starring Richard Basehart, José Isbert, Paola StoppaLooking for ways to boost the local economy, leaders in the village of Fuentecilla set their hopes on a medicinal spa that was once a popular destination but has since fallen on hard times. With ...
