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Monday, March 04, 2002 On the way back from dinner Friday night [see journal entry of March 2], we took an alternate route from the one that passes through the plaza and found ourselves walking up a street lined with caravans that indicated filming of some sort in progress. They might have been shooting in an interior location 'cause we saw no personnel, no equipment, no people milling around. Just the caravans, seven or eight of them. It's not unusual to see filming going on around Madrid, most of it apparently connected with television -– they materialize at a location, set up lights, shoot something, pack everything up and bolt -– though the industry here has a reasonably high profile and seems to be in decent health. What I've found to be a nice surprise is the generally high caliber of the acting. Doesn't matter if we're talking TV, films or stage, the work is usually okay and seems to indicate pretty good training. Most Americans and Brits I've met here seem to make a point of mentioning how awful Spanish television is, and yes, there's a lot of wasted air time. I've heard it said that the quality has slid drastically downhill from what it was ten, fifteen years ago. I can't say. All I can testify to is that the pickings are fairly slim when it comes to indigenous programming. I would also say, however, that regardless of the overall quality of the show, the acting is generally pretty good, and that's some consolation to me. In fact, when it comes to films, most of what I've seen from Spain and other hispanic countries -- Mexico and Argentina, in particular -- has been good, really good. And not simply the acting -- the whole production, all the way down the line. Examples which would make good rentals if you can track them down in a local video joint: "Visionarios" ("Visionaries" -– Spain), "Silencio Roto" ("Broken Silence" -– Spain), "Juana La Loca" ("Juana the Mad" -- Spain -- the female lead in this one, Pilar López de Ayala, gives a tremendous performance), "Amores Perros" ("Dog Loves" –- Mexico), "Sin Dejar Huello" ("Without A Trace" –- Mexico), "Nueve Reinas" ("Nine Queens" -– Argentina), "El Hijo de La Novia" ("The Son of The Bride" -– Argentina). Great movies, all of them, though keep in mind that if you're looking for a light comedy the one that comes closest is El Hijo de La Novia. For a great story with a abundant twists and turns, good, high-quality escapist fare, you might want to go for Nueve Reinas. The rest are all worth a viewing, but are not what you might call light entertainment. There's also "Calle 54" ("54th Street" -– Spain), a labor of love consisting of filmed performances by the cream of what would generally be called Latin Jazz -– a label that encompasses all sorts of styles. You can't go wrong with that one, though you'll have more fun if you have your TV/VCR/DVD plugged into a good sound system when you watch it. And then there are the films of Pedro Almodóvar –- "Carne Tremula" ("Trembling Flesh"), "Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios" ("Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"), "Todo Sobre Mi Madre" ("All About My Mother"), and many more -– which occupy a whole other universe. He's a wacky, wacky guy, easily worth checking out if you've never seen his stuff, but don't expect American-style filmmaking. What got me off onto all that? Oh, yeah -– the caravans in the street. Post-good-night to my friends, as I unlocked the door to my building, six or seven cops passed by, dressed to the teeth in riot gear, complete with clubs and visored helmets. Heading in the direction of the plaza. I've never seen anything like that here, it got me wondering what the hell was up. I was curious, but not curious enough to trail after them. Instead, I went upstairs and, thankfully, the following hours brought no street noise out of the ordinary Friday night partying. No sounds of unrest, no screams, no breaking glass, no yelling, no sirens, no indications of violent conflict. And there have been no police around since then. As they used to say in catechism class, it's a mystery. Since that evening, the springlike weather that had blessed the city with beautiful days and light spirits has turned cool, gray and rainy. This is not bad -– most of Spain has had little in the way of precipitation this last autumn and winter. The water reserves are at half of what they were last year at this time, and in Cataluña, northeast of here -– the autonymous community that includes the province and city of Barcelona -– they've had almost no rain at all. Over the last few weeks, the authorities have grown openly nervous about the situation. So it's good, this weather, it's just a serious change. Snow has been falling in the north of the country, there are weather alerts in some provinces. Kind of like March in New England. It'll pass. Spring is less than three weeks off, the temperatures will resume their slow rise, before you know it everyone will be heading east to the coast and north to the mountains to escape the heat. rws 12:18 PM [+] |