From Asghar Farhadi to Pedro Almodóvar: The triumphs and failures of filming in another language

From left to right, Fernando Trueba, Juan Pablo Urrego and Aida Folch on the set of 'Haunted Heart' in 2022.CLARA LEÓN

From Asghar Farhadi to Pedro Almodóvar: The triumphs and failures of filming in another language 

The release of ‘Haunted Heart’ and ‘The Room Next Door’ join a growing list of movies by filmmakers who have dared to try their hand at a foreign language

TOMMASO KOCH

Madrid - AUG 31, 2024 -

One person bought rice. Another bought a bottle of olive oil. Maybe someone picked up some biscuits. Nothing transcendental, nor particularly artistic. Just the usual stuff in a grocery store. However, while he helped his parents run their business, little Asghar Farhadi watched the customers and would daydream about their shopping carts, their looks or their characters.

Chico & Rita: 'exuberant, passionate and melancholy'.

Graphic novel of the month
Film

Chico & Rita by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal – review

The book of the animated film about the lives of two Latin musicians leaves Rachel Cooke feeling exhilarated

Rachel Cooke

Sunda 5 June 2011

T

en years ago, the Spanish film director Fernando Trueba asked the artist Javier Mariscal to create a poster for his Latin jazz documentary, Calle 54. Though neither of them knew it at the time, this was to be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership and, last year, the pair finally released Chico & Rita, an animated film. Chico & Rita tells the story of a gifted piano player and a beautiful singer and their adventures in 50s Havana, Las Vegas, Hollywood and New York – and it has a superb soundtrack by the Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés (it also features numbers by Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter, and Dizzy Gillespie). When it hit the festivals, it was widely acclaimed – our own Philip French called it "utterly delightful... affecting, funny... erotic" – and no wonder. Truly, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to love it.