ma-cortes
Set in 1973 Spain , dealing with a marriage who takes advantage of an offer to make adult films . As Alfredo Lopez" (Javier Camera), is married to "Carmen" (Candela Peña) , hairdresser and faithful wife . When it starts to go wrong his job selling encyclopedias at home , then the head of sales , Don Carlos (Juan Diego) comes up with an idea for a new product line . The company will expand its catalogue to offer an "audiovisual encyclopedia of human reproduction" , essentially 8 millimeter films of couples making love . As they are presented with the opportunity to make money doing erotic films in Super 8, which is exported to Scandinavia in the form of a false encyclopedia about reproduction in the world . Carmen agrees mainly because she has recently lost her job in a local beauty parlour . The act turns him into an aspiring legit filmmaker and her into an international sex symbol . Being inspired by true events .A good script with comedy , drama and fine players as Javier Camera and Candela Peña . This entertaining as well as interesting Dramedy contains crazy events , nudism , sexual scenes , amusement and absurd situations . Sitting in a strange middle ground between the completely absurd and the stylish set pieces , including various nostalgic moments , paying tribute to music and films of the seventies . It is a crazy Spanish comedy with touches of drama that offers no intellectual stimulus whatsoever , though it has some fun and hilarious moments . Humor is sometimes cheesy and gross-out with numerous naughty and picaresque situations such as sex jokes , adultery , jealousy , and erotic scenes . It partially sets the tone of the times in the seventies when had been made lots of films about nudism or ¨Destape¨. In fact , this film belongs to a nostalgic sub-genre regarding the eroticism and nudism on the mass during the thunderous 70s such as ¨Dias De Cine¨ by David Serrano and ¨Los Años Desnudos (Clasificada S)¨ by Dunia Ayoso and Felix Sabroso . Behind this title hides a story based on real events, with its director Pablo Berger makes her special tribute to cinema , with references to Bergman , the Spanish comedies , even porn. But not only accomplishes that , shows that there are many ways to do comedy without falling into vulgarity. It is an acceptable production plenty of nudism and sexual scenes , but is saved by an intelligent as well as unpretentious script with several very funny scenes . All this is achieved by comedians like Javier Cámara and Candela Peña they are the perfect combination to get laughs and tears , at the same time .It stands out the nice acting from Javier Camera as a struggling encyclopedia salesman become porno actor and charming Candela Peña as his wife who really wants to have a child . The picture provides a passel of brief or cameo appearances such as Malena Alterio , Marivi Bilbao , Máximo Valverde , Jaime Blanch , Mariano Peña, Ana Wagener , Ramón Barea and special appearance by Carmen Machi . Evocative cinematography by Kiko De La Rica , one of the best Spanish cameramen who has photographed great titles as ¨Lucia Y el Sexo¨, ¨El Calentito¨ , ¨Witching and Bitching¨ , "A Sad Trumpet Ballad" ¨The Oxford crimes¨ , ¨Snow White¨ , among others . Lively as well as adequate musical score , plenty of wonderful songs , by Nacho Mastretta , a good professional who has composed soundtracks in a lot of famous movies such as ¨El Gran Vázquez¨ (2010) , ¨Va a Ser Nadie Es Perfecto¨ (2006) and ¨La Hija Del Cannibal¨ (2003) . The motion picture was well produced and compellingly directed by Pablo Berger , a very good Spanish movies director . A very worthy debut that demonstrated how with simple jobs can make a splendid film . The flick delivered a successful result and achieved various Goya Awards . Director Pablo Berger developed the project for some years before being able to shoot it . Pablo is a well recognized filmmaker both nationally and internationally , and in proof of it he won many prizes in several Festivals , as this his feature debut ¨Torremolinos 73¨ , as well as the excellent ¨Snow White¨ or ¨Blancanieves¨ . Rating : Above average , essential and indispensable watching for Spanish cinema fans .
MacBalthus
When I saw the poster of "Torremolinos 73" at my favorite movie theater, it was clear: I had to see that movie.I expected 90 minutes of bursting out laughing. Let's say, that wasn't exactly the case.It sure has its moments of incredible comedy but, surprisingly, also moments of real tragedy and drama. I was quite stunned.In the end, the story is absolutely original, I wouldn't know about anything similar, the actors all do a great job, the dialog is mostly very nice and all this ends up in a fine little piece of entertainment.Not perfect, not amazing, but amusing and entertaining? Definitely!
paulnewman2001
Writer/director Pablo Berger's engaging sex comedy has been praised in some quarters as a Spanish Boogie Nights, but it's altogether a gentler, more romantic film.Set in 1973 towards the end of the censorious Franco era, hapless door-to-door encyclopaedia salesman Alfredo (Javier Cámara) is given a blunt choice by his boss – accept redundancy or diversify into making 'sex education' home movies with his shy wife Carmen (Candela Peña) for the Danish porn industry.After some hesitation, the couple set to with a passion and become increasingly bold in staging their fantasies for the camera – until Carmen unwittingly becomes something of an international sex symbol and Alfredo gets the chance to fulfil his dream of directing a feature film inspired by his cinematic idol Ingmar Bergman.The leads weave a potent and convincing chemistry, both as lovers and as a long-married couple, while Berger lightly coaxes humour and an eccentric romance to the fore.
ggurman2
the plot is not enough to justify a 90 minutes movie but for a 20 minutes television sketch. The actress Candela peña does it very good, but actor camara doesn't fits with the fisic-du-role for a porno star. The funny situations are better achieved than the dramatic ones.The first half you expect for a lot of possibilities the subject could be developed, but it never does. When the sign "the end" comes, you think that something is missing, it's not possible an ending like that, maybe the deadline are the only explanation for such a sudden end, when you're still waiting for something that justify the movie.The recreation of the seventies atmosphere is achieved, and the music helps to that goal. You can see it, if you want a light comedy without many pretensions.
