Any Good Spanish Movies?

[Alfonso]

I find that movies and TV shows helps a lot with learning a language. TVE for instance helps me a lot with the little Spanish that I can speak today. Can anyone suggest any good or classic Spanish movies with subtitles por fabor?

[Trellum]

Well, I really love to watch movies in spanish, I specially love the spaniard cinema, but there are some really good mexican movies as well.  Those are my favorite ones:

- Bajo la sal

- Kilometro 31

- El orfanato

- Los ojos de julia

- El espinazo del diablo

- El laberinto del fauno

- Carne tremula

- Todo sobre mi madre

- Amores perros

- Biutiful

Most of those films are spaniard or mexican, I hope you like them

[thekernel]

"El Mariachi" is a classic, and an excellent film altogether. What makes it particularly amazing is the initial budget of the film, which was about $7,000. Watching it, it would be hard to surmise that they had spent so little.

[limon]

Depends on what you like, of course but I'll recommend my favourites. I often guide myself by directors so I'll start off that way;

Pedro Almodovar; very big name of course, so you've probably already seen lots of his, but if not you can pretty much choose any one of them. I recommend Volver or the classic Mujeres al horde de un ataque de nervios.

Alejandro Amenabar; Tésis is the movie that first got him attention, and is very good.

Alex de la Iglesia; Cult director that makes weird and darkly humorous movies. Dia de la bestia is probably my favorite, but I am also ridiculously fond of Muertos de Risa. However it probably helps do know a bit about Spain in the 60s and 70s to enjoy the second one, and comedy duos like Martes y Trece, so YMMV.

Some others in no particular order;

Bienvenido Mr Marshall (1953)

Extraterrestre (2011)

Amanece, que no es poco (1989)

Marcelino, pan y vino (1955)

Ay Carmela! (1990)

La niña de tus ojos (1995)

If you can find it, I would also recommend the series Cuéntame cómo pasó which ran during the 2000s and is basically a historical soap opera, but it follows a normal family through the sixties and seventies and does a nice combination of personal drama and historical backdrop during the Franco era and transition period.

[Alfonso]

Awesome! A lot of suggestions now. I'm downloading Marcelino, Pan y Vino, El Mariachi and Todo Sobre mi Madre. I'm really excited to watch them, I'll post my feedback when I do. Thanks for the recommendations folks!  :grin:

[Dame6089]

I really enjoy "El secreto de sus ojos". It is a crime thriller with great writing and acting. It also isn't overly violent, so don't worry about that.

"Rudo y Cursi" is another worth checking out. It is a comedic drama about two brothers who are soccer players.

[Soroboru]

A good movie in Spanish would be Por la Libre (Dust to Dust), which is kinda funny.

Or if you liked the movie Vanilla Sky, you should definitely watch the original movie Abre los Ojos.

[Kotro]

I really enjoy "El secreto de sus ojos". It is a crime thriller with great writing and acting. It also isn't overly violent, so don't worry about that.

"Rudo y Cursi" is another worth checking out. It is a comedic drama about two brothers who are soccer players.

These are very good suggestions, especially the first one, one of the finnest movies I ever saw. I heard they are working on a Hollywood version of it, hope they don't ruin it!

One of my favourite movies in Spanish is "El Dia de la Bestia", by Alex de la Iglesia, from the early 90's if I recall.

[True2marie]

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)  is a critically acclaimed Spanish movie.  It's a tale of war and the ending is a surprise.  If you're a fan of horror-fantasy, you will be captivated by this flick. 

[htr693]

Thanks for posting about this! I was actually about to ask a similar question. There are a lot of TV shows online from Spain as well. There is one called Aguila Roja, which I like. The story is interesting enough, and easy to follow, and it reminds me a little bit of Zorro. Some action involved, so my mind gets a bit of a break.

I lived in Spain almost 10 years ago, and have forgotten so much of my Spanish! Things like this really help to keep it up, at least until I am in a Spanish speaking environment again.

[semantik]

Someone already suggested the Almodóvar movies, which I love -- they're great, but a little, well... let's call it strange! You will get what I mean once you've seen one My favorite movie of his probably is 'Todo Sobre Mi Madre'.

If you're just getting started learning the language and want to get a feel on what it sounds like or if you want to try something without subtitles, I recommend getting the Spanish dub of a movie you know very well! That way, you already kind of know what they are going to say and just have to listen for the words.

[TDev]

If you like horror movies, there's the excellent [REC] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/). You can watch the film without subtitles even if you're a beginner Spanish learner, because the dialog is simple and not overwhelming.

The movie was so highly regarded that Hollywood made a remake, titled Quarantine (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1082868/).

Two sequels of the original Spanish [REC] have been released since, and a third and final chapter is scheduled for this October.

[RealSugar]

If you can handle Argentinian movies, I recommend you watch "9 Reinas". Of course, not to be confused with the English version remake that we all pretend doesn't exist (don't worry, it has a completely different name)

[TDev]

If you can handle Argentinian movies, I recommend you watch "9 Reinas". Of course, not to be confused with the English version remake that we all pretend doesn't exist (don't worry, it has a completely different name)

Thank you for the suggestion RealSugar. I googled it and liked what I saw, so I added it to my watchlist.

I'm totally ignorant regarding Argentinian cinema, so if you have any more suggestions, please post them .

[Baburra]

Pan's labyrinth is one of the few Spanish movies I've seen and although I've already forgotten a lot of it, I still remember enjoying it immensely and getting really immersed into the movie. I highly recommend it and I even plan on watching it again even if I kind of hate reading subtitles.

[Alphonse]

If you like comedies anything by Eugenio Derbez is great. I just recently watched one called Instructions Not Included by him, I can't remember the name in Spanish. If you search it on US Netflix like that you will find it though. He has done a couple more movies, so if you enjoy Instructions Not Included you can look for them.

[Traveler]

I haven't watched many, but I really enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth. It's set during the Spanish Civil War and revolves around a little girl's escape into a fantasy world. Actually, I need to watch this one again soon...

[writeletters]

There's a Spanish television program called 'Extra' in which characters speak relatively slowly. It's also entertaining. It would help learners to get familiar with Spanish-speakers because it is completely Spanish (with some English related humour). You can watch it on Youtube.

[everybodyknows]

The two spanish speaking films I can recommend that are worth watching apart from the ones mentioned above which are all good suggestions are:

Y tu mama tambien, you've got a link to the trailer here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245574/

and Abre los ojos which is the version of the "gringo" Vanilla Sky link here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125659/ and it still features the amazing Penelope Cruz 

Hope you'll enjoy them.

[btripp2]

One of my favorite Spanish movies though I have not seen many is "La Misma Luna." It came out in 2008 and I think what made this movie one of my favorites is the ambiguity at the end. My classmates and I felt that the ending should have told us more, but sometimes the right amount of ambiguity makes the difference between a good movie and a great one. It's not one of those "life changing" movies, but rather "I'm-glad-I-watched-this" sort of movie. Hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to watch it!

[Trellum]

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)  is a critically acclaimed Spanish movie.  It's a tale of war and the ending is a surprise.  If you're a fan of horror-fantasy, you will be captivated by this flick. 

Loved this movie, but don't forget this is a mexican-spaniard production!  The director was Guillermo del Toro, he is Mexican and also responsible from directing the Hobbit film. I truly enjoy most of his films, this guy has such a wonderful and unusual vision Just like Tim Burton, but even a bit better! I love them both tho, but I feel Burton has lost a bit his touch... but Del Toro is and has always been the same.  NONE of his films have disappointed me so far, can't say the same about Burton.

[123SpanishTutor]

A bit old post, but for those interested in good Spanish movies, you can have a look at our Spanish blog where we share the best movies, classics from Spanish and South American cinema, as well as new releases.

[petesede]

Don´t underestimate the value of telenovelas!!  The one problem I found with the movies ( Saw most of the ones mentiones) is that they can be based on where they were filmed ( Mexico, Spain etc) so you often won´t get generic spanish.  I found that most of the better telenovelas (oxymoron??)  use very generic, location-neutral spanish.

[untalleslie]

I really like Telenovelas, but I guess that they are not for everyone! But I can recommend you a few good movies:

- El laberinto del fauno

- Amarte duele

- El espinazo del diablo

- Kilómetro 31

They are all different but good in their own way, you should look up for them!

[zurcminister]

Depends on what you like, of course but I'll recommend my favourites. I often guide myself by directors so I'll start off that way;

 

Pedro Almodovar; very big name of course, so you've probably already seen lots of his, but if not you can pretty much choose any one of them. I recommend Volver or the classic Mujeres al horde de un ataque de nervios.

 

Alejandro Amenabar; Tésis is the movie that first got him attention, and is very good.

 

Alex de la Iglesia; Cult director that makes weird and darkly humorous movies. Dia de la bestia is probably my favorite, but I am also ridiculously fond of Muertos de Risa. However it probably helps do know a bit about Spain in the 60s and 70s to enjoy the second one, and comedy duos like Martes y Trece, so YMMV.

 

Some others in no particular order;

 

Bienvenido Mr Marshall (1953)

Extraterrestre (2011)

Amanece, que no es poco (1989)

Marcelino, pan y vino (1955)

Ay Carmela! (1990)

La niña de tus ojos (1995)

 

If you can find it, I would also recommend the series Cuéntame cómo pasó which ran during the 2000s and is basically a historical soap opera, but it follows a normal family through the sixties and seventies and does a nice combination of personal drama and historical backdrop during the Franco era and transition period.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Limon for this list because I also would like to view films like these that are in Spanish because I also want to jumpstart in learning Spanish because it is one of the languages of my ancestors. First way for me to effectively learn the language is to read good books in Spanish and then try researching in the internet. Third, is perhaps to watch the movies suggested above and then last is to immerse myself with good native speakers of the Spanish language. Gracias.