Rain
Funny coincidences... Today, Facebook dug out a picture I took in Madrid in 2011 as a suggested "on this day" memory. I really didn't like Spain much. My own temperament doesn't agree with this type of culture.
...
There are only three Spaniards I can deal with ... Luis Bunuel. Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso ... all the others were way too self-absorbed for my tastes. Of all the writers, even Cervantes does not do it for me, but many films have been taken from some great novels ... The Fencing Master, The Cradle Song, Ay, Carmela ... and a few other things. I kinda think that the Spanish Civil War kinda destroyed everything, and only a handful made it through in one piece. Bunuel escaped to Mexico, Dali to France and Pablo to the US and other places.
Of all the movies, in the past 20 years, you got a director or two that stand out, but Pedro Almodovar has become strange and the stories are getting rather boring and insipid. After "High Heels", and "KiKa", I kinda think that he slipped a little, although the film about the girl in a comma is something else ... the guy that ends up saving her, is the one that loses, and that is the mentality of the Spanish ... there is no poetic justice in Spain.
Bunuel's writing continuity with Jean Claude Carriere (specially) is fabulous and very well done ... his Oscar film "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" goes from mind to mind all the way to the end! And I happen to really like one of his last films, "The Phantom of Liberty", because it is just that. And to see him use paintings as a set is insane ... and he did this several times during his career. The famous picture of Jesus laughing came from "Nazarin". He had a version of the Last Supper that will floor you when it happens. And many other paitings. It's almost fun to look for them. Dali is a bit on the boring side as a person, but his art work speaks for itself well. Pablo is the ultimate irreverent artists, and he didn't care what people thought of his work, and sometimes you need that to continue doing what you see.
It's just people being people. Hollywood is not better or different than any of these! You can't put up with the Spanish temperament, but you can with Kardashian temperament? ... hmmmm ... see what I'm saying? ... same thing!
The last one is Carlos Saura, who has spent his whole life doing dancing films of the unreal kind. You must see his "Carmen" (modern dance Carmen against old style in this version), and later his incantation of "Tango" ... and these are not even his best ... his Garcia Lorca trilogy is even better, but not available in America with subtitles.