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Film Society Showcases Spanish Comedies
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Thursday, 04 December 2014 10:05
- Written by Jack Angstreich
From December 12th to the 18th, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting a series called The Last Laugh: An Alternate History of Spanish Comedy, which aims to canvas a “grotesque” tradition in that national cinema. It seems that this retrospective is typically and regrettably over-representative of recent works but a few films from the Golden Age of Spanish movies will be featured including an early work by the formidable Marco Ferreri, The Little Coach, co-scripted by, and adapted from the novel by, the eminent screenwriter and author, Rafael Azcona — the illustrious careers in cinema of both Ferreri and Azcona began together and the latter went on to author the wonderful Il Mafioso of Alberto Lattuada and to brilliantly collaborate with Carlos Saura.
The most significant of Azcona’s collaborations, beside those with Ferreri and Saura, was with the remarkable Luis García Berlanga, who was the subject of a memorable Film Society retrospective a few years ago. One of Azcona’s most impressive scripts and one of Berlanga’s finest films was the classic El Verdugo, which is a highlight of this series, about an undertaker, beautifully played by the great Italian star, Nino Manfredi, who finds himself placed against his will in the role of executioner. This work is, to a large degree, a subtle and ingenious bureaucratic satire but sustains an undercurrent of unexpectedly moving pathos. (The great Spanish comic actor, José Luis López Vásquez, who starred in many Berlanga films — and whom the filmmakers wanted for Manfredi’s part — is terrific in a small role as the undertaker’s brother.)
El Verdugo is one of Berlanga’s most stylistically accomplished works, excellent photographed by the extraordinary Tonino Delli Colli, who is especially famous for his magnificent collaborations with Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sergio Leone. In this film, the director favors the sequence-shot and compositions in depth, achieving a truly Bazinian realism. The visual effect of Berlanga’s approach is enhanced by the glorious 35-millimeter print being screened, which although it is slightly dirty and worn, conveys the splendors of this vanishing art.
