Review of Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998) by Till K — 10 Jan 2007

I watched Princesas today in cinema and decided to rate three other Spanish (Spanish as the country, not the language) movies together with it.

- Princesas is very funny and very sad, and this contrast is balanced in a wonderful way. You get to know a little of the life of whores in Madrid, never having the feeling of watching documentary-like thing, but a very entertaining movie as well. I loved the performance of Candela Peña who is best known for her role in Almodóvars All About My Mother. Her work in Princesas is great, a very heart-warming and honest performance. Princesas is - while being very entertaining - a social commentary, a view into the polarized society of Spain and there are certain similarities to the cinema of Ken Loach, who is one of my favourite directors.

- Pedro Almodóvars newest film Volver was the last one from Spain that I saw and I loved it from beginning to end. I liked his dramatic pictures like All About My Mother or Talk to Her a lot, but it's so great seeing him back in the genre he created in some way. Also great to see Penélope Cruz having her creative freedom back and really do some acting. Volver might not have an important story, but this is not what it's all about. It is a true Almodóvar movie and this is always a great experience.

- My Life Without Me is filmed in English, but it is a Spanish production and directed by Spanish Isabel Coixet. Unfortunaly I did not had a chance to see The Secret Life of Words, Coixet's latest work, but I'm looking forward to see it, as her first one is such an exceptional movie. You go into this movie, thinking you're going to cry the whole time, because the story of a young mother who is supposed to die is not really something for Christmas. But Coixet manages to give this film so much positive, nice and funny things that it is always well balanced in its melancholy. Of course this would have never been so great without the outstanding performance by Sarah Polley. A great film I'd like to watch again in the near future.

- We have Almodóvar, we have Coixet and we cannot forget about Julio Medem. His masterpiece Lovers of the Arctic Circle is my favourite movie from Spain and I can't get enough of it. This has so much poetry in it without any kind of heaviness, it is amazing work by the writer-director. This movie is so perfectly constructed (for some it might be "too constructed" as I read somewhere, but I never saw this point in movies) and one of the most beautiful love stories in the history of cinema. Do not miss this one.