"Actor: Pilar Bardem"

• Live Flesh | DVD | (28/02/2000) from £6.85   |  Saving you £13.14 (191.82%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Victor Plaza (Liberto Rabal) is a child of Franco's Spain born on a bus that was taking his mother a prostitute to the hospital. In spite of this Victor is young and life has not destroyed his trust in people particularly Elena (Francesca Neri) the daughter of a diplomat and the woman with whom he shares his first sexual experience. Victor believing the experience was not a casual one soon discovers things are not usually as straightforward as one would hope. Nerves a gun an

• All About My Mother / Live Flesh / Talk To Her | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  All About My Mother: A birthday treat turns into heart-rending tragedy for single mother Manuela (Cecilia Roth) when her teenage son is killed in a car accident after a performance of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' starring his favourite actress Huma Roja (Marisa Paredes). Determined to exorcise her overwhelming guilt Manuela goes to Barcelona to finally tell his father about the son he never knew he had. There the reason why she has kept the identity of her forbidden lover a secret for so long is revealed. He is a transvestite named Lola who is dying from an AIDS related illness. However in confronting her own past Manuela forges a new future with Lola's transsexual best friend Agrado (Antonia San Juan) church social worker Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz) and Huma when her play comes to town. But even as the women from different fringes of society form a bond further heartbreak misfortune and ultimate joy lies in store for each. Live Flesh: Victor Plaza (Liberto Rabal) is a child of Franco's Spain born on a bus that was taking his mother a prostitute to the hospital. In spite of this Victor is young and life has not destroyed his trust in people particularly Elena (Francesca Neri) the daughter of a diplomat and the woman with whom he shares his first sexual experience. Victor believing the experience was not a casual one soon discovers things are not usually as straightforward as one would hope. Nerves a gun and two policeman are involved when Victor tries to see Elena again and a violent encounter changes all their lives. A policeman Sancho (Jose Sancho) precipitates a violent incident into which Victor is dragged. David (Javier Barden) is hit by a stray bullet that leaves him paralyzed and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Victor is blamed and sent to prison where he watches helplessly as David becomes a paralympics star with Elena - now his wife. Fate however intervenes again. When Victor is released from prison he visits his mother's grave only to find Elena and David at the cemetery. Now Victor has the chance to settle old scores - but from his moment on they are all locked in a game which has only just begun. Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella): After a chance encounter at a theater two men Benigno and Marco meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma Alicia a young ballet student...

• Vacas | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  With Vacas, his first feature, the Basque director Julio Medem set out all the elements of his audacious and idiosyncratic approach to filmmaking: intricate, circular plots; richly sensual imagery and highly stylised camerawork; a deft interweaving of fantasy and reality; and a thoroughly subversive attitude to Spanish tradition and folklore. Vacas takes a staple Spanish genre--the epic historical melodrama with all its bombast and macho posturing--and kicks the stuffing out of it while pelting it with cowpats. The action unrolls between two Spanish civil wars--the Second Carlist War of 1874-5, and the rather better-known conflict that started in 1936. An incident in the first of these sets up a feud between two farming families in a Basque valley, and the story leapfrogs down the decades taking in star-crossed lovers, log-chopping contests (a staple Basque competitive sport, it seems), mutilation, madness, incest, photography and any number of cows, through whose placidly bemused gaze we view a good deal of the action. Though Medem is dealing with all the solemn Hemingway-esque elements of romantic Spanishry--honour, blood and death--his approach is too playful to admit any real sense of tragedy. Much of the time the tone is closer to myth, and there's more than a touch of magic realism: axes fly miles through the air, and a tree in the woods can apparently eat people alive. In the end, of course, love triumphs over all. Medem's films have since gained greatly in sophistication and technique, but there's exuberance about this debut work that's irresistible. On the DVD: Vacas on disc has trailers for all five of Medem's features to date; filmographies for Medem and his two lead actors, Emma Suárez and Carmelo Gómez; and useful written notes on the movie by film historian Robert Stone. The transfer's clean and clear, doing justice to Carles Gusi's rich photography, with good sound and in the original ratio. --Philip Kemp

• 20 Centimetres | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  With an 'Almodovarian' twist and the flamboyance of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert director Ramn Salazar's 20 Centimetres tells the story of Marieta (Mnica Cervera) a narcoleptic transsexual who longs to get rid of 8 inches of equipment that separates her from being the glamorous woman she dreams to be. When she accidentally falls asleep in the most inopportune times Marieta's dreams become lavish and colorful musical numbers where as a real woman she can sing in Spanish French & English. So cue up the lights powder that face and slip on that sexy gown because Marieta's dreams are about to come true... Nominated for the Golden Leopard award at the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival.

• Compassionate Sex | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £6.73   |  Saving you £8.26 (122.73%)   |  RRP £14.99

  She saved a village looking for love. Dolores is devastated when her husband Pepe fed up with her excessive generosity towards other men leaves her. Determined to get him back Dolores attempts to quit her giving ways. But it's soon evident that Dolores has a gift. When she commits adultery she ends up bringing the color and happiness back into her community.

• Against The Wind | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £12.54   |  Saving you £-8.29 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  The story of a passionate but incestuous love affair.