By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Starring: Carmen Maura | Eduardo Antuña | Jesús Bonilla | María Asquerino | Marta Fernández Muro | Paca Gabaldón
Original language title: La Comunidad
Country: spain
Year: 2005
Running time: 110
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255067/combined
Michael says: “I try to see any film that Carmen Maura appears in that is released in the States. I still think Pedro Almodóvar’s best films were during the Carmen Maura period. Carmen has done some mediocre films since she parted ways with Almodóvar, and a couple of good ones too, but finally, with THE COMMONWEALTH, she stars in a film worthy of her talents.
“In Álex de la Iglesia’s THE COMMONWEALTH, Maura plays Julia, a 50ish real estate agent who finds 300 million pesetas hidden in the apartment of a recently deceased gentleman, in the building where she is showing the apartment below. As she makes her plans to transport her newly found riches out of the building, the other residents begin to behave strangely. It soon becomes clear that the people living in the building have been plotting to swipe the money on their own, and have no intention of letting Julia getting away with it.
“THE COMMONWEALTH swerves from absurd comedy to brutal thriller as it explores the lengths people will go in the clutches of greed. While the film focuses clearly on Julia, each character is given an opportunity to become more than a cardboard villain a walk the line between protagonist and antagonist. The building’s residents are established actors from Spain’s theatre community, and their experience shows. Maura shines in this starring role, displaying the confidence and skills both comic and dramatic in bringing Julia so vibrantly to life. Director Iglesias clearly took great care with his actors in this tense, blackly comic
film. If you rent this DVD, watch the behind-the-scenes featurette to hear from much of the cast and the director on their experiences. 4 cats”