(1980)
Dir - Ivan Zulueta
Overall: MEH
Whatever the hell it is that could be going on in Ivan Zulueta's Arrebato, (Rapture), is left so meticulously incomprehensible that pure frustration and boredom are impossible side effects to overcome while viewing it. Funded by an architect and shot on location in the homes and apartments of Zulueta and several acquaintances, (nearly all of whom were allegedly junkies), the film met with universal bewilderment upon being released and any piece of celluloid this impenetrable and unforgiving was bound to find a cult audience eventually. It could be a heroin-induced fever dream made by heroin users in a bold attempt to link the medium of film itself to the crippling feelings of addiction. Or it could be some kind of commentary on the way that movies corrupt the brain, fueling such drug addiction and hindering relationships. Or it could possibly be both. Whether the questions it raises and the non-answers it gives were a fluke or part of some ingenious and bold vision on Zulueta's part is up to interpretation now, but the experience is a near monumentally difficult one to get through. The movie meanders endlessly and so mercilessly confuses its audience that having the patience let alone interest in deciphering it is left to a very select few.
(1986)
Dir - Agustí Villaronga
Overall: MEH
A "horror" film in the same way Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo is, (though it does not really come close to being as nightmarishly unwatchable as said infamous movie is), Agusti Villaronga's debut In a Glass Cage is still plenty unflinching. The very opening scene is a squeamish one to sit through and does in fact set the stage for everything that follows where the horrid acts of an ex Nazi in hiding are relived by way of one of the tormented-turned-tormentor. Though Villaronga pulls the camera away here or there, it is still not enough to make the proceedings any kind of a cake walk. It is clear that the writer/director was going for something harsh and visceral, but it is no different from any other such movie that forces the viewer to witness some of the worst human atrocities possible. In this case, those atrocities are pedophilia and murder and the viewing experience is awkward to say the least. All of the technical aspects are on point though, from Jaume Peracaula's cinematography to Javier Navarrete's score, plus Villaronga's tone is perfectly cold and disturbing. Can it be recommended as a piece of entertainment? Of course not, but that was certainly never the point so it can still be considered a success even if it is one that virtually nobody would enjoy sitting through.
(1987)
Dir - Bigas Luna
Overall: MEH
This is an equally messy and ambitions debut for Spanish filmmaker Bigas Luna. Featuring an entire American cast and set in the US, it is only a Spanish production by technicality, yet the feel of it is unlike any from a particular country's style anyway. Anguish sets out to be a high-reaching "film within a film" movie, opening with on-screen text and forth-wall breaking narration, then abruptly revealing its true nature once the first act is wrapped up. Everything until that point seems to be going in a competent direction with the mystery just presenting itself before the entire movie pretty much abandons that and throws oodles more questions at us. The problem is in part that there is virtually no pay off by the conclusion, but it is also a faux pas that the entire second half never lets up from its tedious and confusing nature. None of the characters in the "real world" that we meet well into the movie are given any sort of context to care about, and everything lingers and lingers on people sitting in a movie theater, occasionally talking, and then getting scared until the plot of the "not real world" movie is left frustratingly dangling. It would not be an 80s horror movie without a final scene that throws even more confusion on all of the previous ones so all that said and done, good luck trying to maintain your interest while everything goes all over the place.
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