PANAMÁ IFF / FANTASIA 2012: LA CHISPA DE LA VIDA (AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT)—The Evening Class Interview With Álex de la Iglesia

As luck would have it, the bevy of journalists clamoring to query Álex de la Iglesia at the inaugural edition of the Panamá International Film Festival (Panamá IFF) happened to be in the wrong place at the right time (at least as far as I was concerned). Assembled on the sixth floor veranda of Panama City's Hotel Meridien, the journalists were unaware that de la Iglesia was waiting downstairs in the lobby. As was I. Thus, I had a window of opportunity before the throng advanced to ask de la Iglesia a few questions about his latest film La Chispa de la Vida (As Luck Would Have It). I now offer the transcript of that conversation on the occasion of the film's Canadian premiere at the 2012 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival.

Compared here and again to Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951), La Chispa de la Vida is arguably de la Iglesia's most accessible film to date, though some might argue it is de la Iglesia-lite. Further, as noted by Jonathan Holland in his Variety review, the literal translation of the film's Spanish title (The Spark of Life) would be not only accurate but more appropriate since "The Spark of Life" references the successful advertising slogan that made an aging and down-on-his-luck publicist a one-shot wonder for the Coca-Cola company. Just as Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) fanned a media blaze around the tragic plight of trapped miner Leo Minosa, an equal fervor surrounds beleaguered Roberto Gómez (José Mota) who—after an accidental fall in the ruins of an ancient coliseum—has found himself pinned to a life-threatening situation. As Panamá IFF's program note details: "From there we're taken on a non-stop freak show of desperate civil functionaries trying to conceal their liabilities, media network execs showing their money teeth to get exclusive rights to broadcast live the agonizing drama of Roberto's family, and the vulture audience that fills the classic coliseum where the events unfold."

Director, producer, writer and cartoonist Álex de la Iglesia holds a degree in philosophy from the Universidad de Deusto. His career in film began with the short Mirindas asesinas (1991) and his first feature film was Acción mutante (1993). His provocative dark comedies such as The Day of the Beast (1995), Perdita Durango (1997), Muertos de risa (1999), The Commonwealth (2000), 800 balas (2002), Ferpect Crime (2004), The Oxford Murders (2007) and The Last Circus (2010) have earned him a celebrated following few Spanish directors enjoy. His films cross borders and genres, and have helped bring new audiences to the world of Spanish-language cinema. Because of his ability to transcend, to travel and engage across the boundaries of language, de la Iglesia was fêted with a five-film showcase at Panamá IFF. [This conversation is not for the spoiler-wary.]

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Michael Guillén: Álex, what I appreciate most about your films is that they are genre hybrids and that, as a spectator, I can feel when you are shifting from one genre into another. Arguably, La Chispa de la Vida could be understood as a horror film in the sense that the dilemma of your protagonist Roberto reflects the horror many people are currently experiencing as victims of the economy, losing their jobs, and being unable to control the corporate forces negatively impacting their lives; but, at the same time, your film is a comedy. Is that particular sensorial quality of shifting from one genre to another something you intentionally work into your scripts?

Álex de la Iglesia: It's not that conscious of a process; but, I have to say that's how I feel life works. I can't believe in just one genre because I don't trust people. Nobody's just honest. Nobody's just humorous. It's always a mixture within each person. Everything is mixed. In every day of your life you will have beautiful moments, honest moments, and dignified moments; but, you will also have ridiculous moments. It's all mixed up together.

Let's say you go to a funeral and—as you are standing there beside the grave—you realize how the life you had with this guy is suddenly dead. You feel all the love and remember the beautiful and funny moments you had with this guy. And you begin to cry. Then suddenly something stupid happens and you can't help but laugh. Because nothing is perfect. Nothing works. In the same moment that you are suffering, you are laughing and vice versa. One moment you're having a really good time with your friends when, suddenly, your soul takes a big hit because someone comes up to you to tell you your mother is dying or your father is dying. Nothing is perfect. Life is a confusion of sentiments. Thus, it's absolutely impossible for me to make the kind of genre film that an audience might expect and adore.

I love genre films. I love comedies. I love dramas. I understand that the work of cinema is to know the feelings caused by certain genres to best express life. But I can't make a film in just one genre because, as I said, life isn't like that for me. For example, in La Chispa de la Vida there's the scene where the main character Roberto is talking with his son and says, "Hey, now we'll have money. And now you can do whatever you want in your life. Try to be free. Try to be honest with yourself." In that intimate moment his son unknowingly steps on him and—seeing his dad in sudden agony—asks, "Dad, are you dying?!" To which Roberto answers, "No, you're stepping on me." [Laughs.]

Guillén: Both dark and funny, yes. Along with Mota's lead portrayal of Roberto, I was particularly impressed with Salma Hayek in the role of Roberto's wife Luisa. For me, she embodied an integrity that went past surface appearances.

De la Iglesia: I don't want to destroy everything. I don't think that's fair. We need some kind of dignity. In this movie, that dignity is in the hands of a woman. Salma plays Luisa, a regular woman, a normal wife, who tries to be charming for her husband and honest with her family and her relationships; but—in this moment of crisis—she realizes that she has made a big mistake. She has been encouraging her husband, telling him, "Someday you're going to win. Someday you're going to get a job"; but, at the end this is not possible and she realizes that trying to be positive all the time has been a big mistake.

Guillén: There was that moment of exquisite suspense when Luisa is offered the valise of money in exchange for media rights. The film sardonically skewers so much hypocrisy up to then, that you don't quite know if she's going to take the money or not. I was glad she didn't and grateful for that grace note of integrity.

De la Iglesia: Though many people in Spain have asked me, "Why didn't she take the money? It would be better for her family and would give them financial security."

Guillén: That particular scene likewise accentuates a characteristic rhythm in your work. Often your films go to excess and then—as in this scene where Luisa walks past the valise of money—you suddenly exercise restraint, which restores dignity.

De la Iglesia: Thank you very much for that. That is the idea of the movie. The idea of the film is about what happens to people when they don't have time to think about what to do? Because, in truth, that's how life often is. Everything rushes by so fast that a person doesn't have time to think much past the moment. They don't know what to do about the future. Suddenly they find themselves near death and they wonder, "What do we do now? What sense can be made of my death?" That's why I wanted to make this film. To give audiences the chance to think about these things. In the first half of the film their sympathies are with Roberto and his plight, but in the second half their sympathies are with Luisa and what she's going to do after Roberto's death. This is how I found the rhythm for this film.

Guillén: You're known for your repertory casting, using the same actors again and again in your films. I was watching your early shorts, specifically Mirindas asesinas (1991), enjoyed the central performance of Álex Angulo, and then noted you cast him again in The Day of the Beast (1995). And the actor who played the doctor in La Chispa, I've seen in your other films. What is the value of repertory casting for you?

De la Iglesia: I love to work with friends! When I'm writing a script, I'm already thinking ahead to what face I will need. I love to work with the same pieces in this chess game. John Ford did this as well. He always worked with the same actors. I love to work with my friends and with people that I know.

Guillén: How then do you negotiate the problem of audiences identifying more with recognized actors than with the characters they're intended to portray? Because, admittedly, as a filmmaker you're trying to create a fiction, an illusion, so does the fact that their faces are familiar hinder your storytelling in any way?

De la Iglesia: But that's what I'm trying to do! I know I need a certain kind of face or a certain kind of reaction so that makes me use the same actor again who I know will give me the reaction I need. I know, "This guy is good to say this sentence or that dialogue." At the same time, to make movies is a game. For example, José Mota is not really an actor; he's a comedian. I mean he's a wonderful actor for me, but in his "real" life he's a comedian. He primarily works on Spanish TV. So it was something of a shock to Spanish audiences that I cast José Mota in a serious role, which was like casting Jerry Lewis in a serious role. Martin Scorsese did just that when he cast Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy (1983). The idea to use José Mota in La Chispa de la Vida was a joke, a bit of a naughty joke, because I needed a comedian to make this drama work. I knew it would put the audience in an uncomfortable space because they expected to see this guy crack a joke and suddenly there's no joke. I knew it would upset audiences to see José Mota suffering. It's not exactly my idea. Scorsese already did this with The King of Comedy. Using a funny guy to tell a sad story.

FANTASIA 2012—THE FIRST WAVE

The 16th annual Fantasia International Film Festival (Fantasia) is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and thrills beginning July 19, 2012 and continuing through August 7, 2012. Their full 2012 lineup of programming and special events won't be revealed until later this month, but—in anticipation of same—Fantasia announced several selected highlights mid-June to whet appetites.

11/25 The Day Mishima Chose His Own Fate / 11/25 Jiketsu No Hi, Mishima Yukio to Wakamonotachi (Japan) Dir.: Kōji Wakamatsu—Yukio Mishima's masterwork isn't his literature, but the political commitment he pursued even unto death. By retracing the journey of the revolutionary writer, Japanese cinema's enfant terrible Kōji Wakamatsu delivers a violent, rabid critique of militancy. A timely, necessary film. Official Selection: Cannes 2012 [PDF press kit]. IMDb. Wikipedia. North American Premiere.

At Japan Times, Mark Schilling complains: "Kōji Wakamatsu's documentary-like film illuminates the motives behind this quixotic coup attempt, including Mishima's tempestuous relationship with the four young disciples who accompanied him that fateful day, but as a drama it is on the wordy, wooden level of a cable-channel historical reenactment." At Screen, Jonathan Romney describes the film as "glacially analytical" and predicts, "The film's chilly execution and cumbersomely fact-laden narrative will make it a tough export, although it can be expected to thrive at festivals with a bent for rigorous austerity." At Variety, Maggie Lee concurs: "Devoid of drama and shorn of superfluous technical flourishes, the pic uses characters as mouthpieces for political ideology in a manner as indigestible as raw potatoes. Hard going as cinema, yet admirable as an unbiased analysis of misplaced idealism at a particular moment in history, the pic is a worthy study topic but likely commercial suicide for distribs." Mincing no words in his bottom line, The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy concludes: "This thinly realized film makes the Japanese author and militant nationalist look like nothing but a political nutjob."  At Fandor's Keyframe, Anna Tatarska interviews Wakamatsu.

As Luck Would Have It / La chispa de la vida (Spain) Dir: Álex de la Iglesia—Spain's madman auteur reworks Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole for today's world as an absurdist comedy. Stars José Mota and Salma Hayek. Official Selection: Berlin 2012, Tribeca 2012. IMDb. Canadian Premiere.

At Variety, Jonathan Holland writes: "A would-be Death of a Salesman for our times, given that it studies a man prepared to swap his dignity for his family's future, As Luck Would Have It reps an entertaining but unsubtle satire on the moral confusions of a marketing / media-driven world. Though it slickly offers up drama, black comedy and enjoyable perfs in due measure, the pic never develops much bite, though it does bare its fangs. Arguably helmer Álex de la Iglesia's most accessible item to date...." At indieWire, Gabe Toro describes the film as "mordantly funny and sharp as a razor" and proclaims it as "one of the treasures of the Tribeca Film Festival."

Blood-C: The Last Dark (Japan) Dir: Naoyoshi Shiotani—In a futuristic Tokyo where youth struggles for its freedom, Aya must face off against the man who has a stranglehold on the city and nightmarish creatures that are spreading terror. Twelve years after Blood: The Last Vampire, here is the big comeback to the big screen of this influential Japanese animation franchise. Official site [Japanese]. IMDb. International Premiere.

Beast (Denmark) Dir: Christoffer Boe—Nicolas Bro, Marijana Jankovic and Nikolaj Lie Kaas star in this disturbing and poetic nightmare drama that treats Love as both a force of nature and a chemical imbalance. Official Selection SXSW 2012. IMDb. Canadian Premiere.

At Variety, Alissa Simon praises the sharp dialogue and strong performances in this "perversely fascinating psychodrama." At Twitch, Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg characterizes Beast as "A visceral, dark and disturbing portrait of a man whose love drives him to chaos."

Crave (USA) Dir: Charles de Lauzirika—The long anticipated feature directorial debut from regular Ridley Scott collaborator de Lauzirika stylishly depicts an alienated crime scene photographer (Josh Lawson) teetering on the verge of vigilantism. Also stars Ron Perlman and Edward Furlong. IMDb. Facebook. World Premiere.

Citadel (Ireland-Scotland) Dir: Ciarán Foy—A man suffering from extreme agoraphobia confronts murderous packs of feral, hooded children in this powerful and frightening film that took home the Midnighter Audience Award at this year's SXSW. IMDb. Canadian Premiere.

At Variety, Joe Leydon states that Citadel "will be especially nerve-wracking for any parent who's ever doubted whether he or she could overcome immobilizing fear and spring into action to defend an endangered offspring. Foy exploits that cruel doubt with ruthless efficiency in this impressive debut feature." At FEARnet, Scott Weinberg writes: "Citadel employs simple and effective horror tropes in service of a film that has something a little bit angry to say about crime in low-income neighborhoods, but says it in a frank and starkly entertaining fashion." Quiet Earth claims that "Citadel is one of those films that works not because it has a groundbreaking setup or movie monster (it doesn't), but rather because it fully explores its main character's conflict...."

Doomsday Book (South Korea) Dir: Yim Pil-sung and Kim Ji-woon—Yim Pil-sung (Hansel & Gretel) and Kim Ji-woon (A Tale Of Two Sisters) join forces in this anthology film featuring three stories tackling in very different ways as many apocalyptic scenarios. Be prepared to deal with a zombie invasion, a delicate moral dilemma raised by a robot who's the reincarnation of Buddha, and a most unusual object that's about to destroy the planet! Official website [Korean]. Wikipedia. Canadian Premiere.

Graceland (Philippines / USA) Dir: Ron Morales—A working class chauffeur is dropped into the darkest side of the Philippine underworld when his daughter is kidnapped by ruthless mobsters in this shocking crime drama that won major acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival. Official website. IMDb. Facebook. Canadian Premiere.

 At Complex Pop Culture, Matt Barone describes Morales' Graceland as a "vigorously breathless thriller" that "quickly presents his case, raises the stakes to gargantuan heights, and roars through a plethora of shocks, dangerously concealed secrets, and thick intensity so to-the-point that you'd think he's got a bus to catch." In a separate entry, Barrone commends Morales for turning "a lean storyline into a muscular and aggressive showstopper." At Sound On Sight, Mark Young qualifies that Graceland's "brisk" running length of 83 minutes is all that's "needed to change a film's delivery from 'wallowing' to 'riveting.' " Tasha Robinson interviews Morales at Tribeca for A.V. Club. Gene Shalit likewise speaks with Morales and lead actor Arnold Reyes.

Errors of the Human Body (Germany-USA) Dir: Eron Sheean—Written and directed by Sheean, who penned last year's The Divide, Errors of the Human Body is an unsettling, stylistically bold look at the personal and ethical horrors of modern genetic engineering, oscillating quite ambiguously between pure science and terrifying science fiction. Stars Michael Eklund. IMDb. World Premiere.

Funeral Kings (USA) Dirs: Kevin McManus & Matthew McManus—They're rebellious, irreverent and vulgar. They're ... 14-year-old! Even though they're altar servants, Andy and Charlie are hardly choirboys. When they meet David, a little mama's boy, they'll do anything to force their life philosophy on him. From then on, they'll really get into trouble. With this debut film that was a sensation at SXSW, the McManus Brothers impose themselves a new comic duo to keep a close eye on. Official Selection: SXSW 2012. Official website. IMDb. Facebook. International Premiere.

At Twitch, Scott Weinberg describes Funeral Kings as "a very funny, generally fast-paced, and resoundingly foul-mouthed little comedy. It's got some edge and a little hint of darkness, but it's mostly a rather humane tale about how boys are often forced to become 'mature' at one of the most egocentric stage of their lives." At Hitfix, Drew McWeeny writes that Funeral Kings "is confident and controlled and, with an unabashed vulgarity underscoring everything, about as pure a piece of movie memory as I can name."

The Human Race (USA) Dir: Paul Hough—From the director of The Backyard comes this stunning action / sci-fi / horror film that challenges conventions and takes enormous risks (among them the casting of a charismatic one-legged lead, a deaf performer who execute his scenes via subtitled sign language, etc). An astoundingly impressive achievement. Official site. IMDb. World Premiere.

Isn't Anyone Alive? (Japan) Dir: Gakuryū Ishii—Filmmaker Gakuryū Ishii, who notably directed Electric Dragon 80.000 V under the name Sogo Ishii, returns with this completely off the wall adaptation of an absurdist play about students at a university campus who mysteriously die one after the other. The apocalypse has rarely been this strange and funny. Canadian Premiere.

La Memoria del Muerto / Memory of the Dead (Argentina) Dir: Javier Diment—This bedazzling giallo-inspired supernatural horror film boasts a strong visual design and a ferociously Grand Guignol sensibility. Prepare for Latin American demonic fury. IMDb. Facebook. World Premiere.

A Night of Nightmares (USA) Dir: Buddy Giovinazzo—One year after winning an award at Fantasia for his entry in The Theatre Bizarre, Combat Shock director Giovinazzo is returning to Montreal with this hair-raising and unique occult chiller that stars Marc Senter and Elissa Dowling. World Premiere.

Poongsan (South Korea) Dir: Juhn Jai-hong—In this dark, intense thriller written by Kim Ki-duk (Bad Guy), a mysterious man who regularly crosses the border between the two Koreas to smuggle goods or people finds himself being hunted down by both sides, which will have their hands full with him. IMDb. Wikipedia. North American Premiere.

At Variety, Jay Weissberg says Poongsan "plays like an enjoyable Cold War-themed TV pilot featuring a mute protag of uncertain political persuasion whose physical endurance puts him in the near-superhero category." At The Hollywood Reporter, Maggie Lee declares that "Poongsan injects new life into Korean North-South espionage thrillers with its edgy portrayal of a mysterious man who crosses the DMZ to provide a unique kind of courier service. From its heart-wrenching opening shot to its breathtaking end, the film is unfaltering in its momentum and often unbearable in its intensity, delivering shocks to the system as it runs the extraordinary gamut of love, longing, jealousy, hate, desperation, intrigue, cruelty and madness."

Resolution (USA) Dirs: Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead—A captivating waking nightmare of a film, Resolution tore out of nowhere when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and made almost every critic's best-of-fest lists. Be prepared for something truly original, scary and special. IMDb. Canadian Premiere.

At Twitch, Peter Gutierrez interviews the directors and writes: "Resolution uses its smarts and DIY feel to create something that works on its own terms, achieving moods and moments that would be impossible to duplicate with a much bigger budget." indieWire also interviews Benson and Moorhead, as does You Won Cannes, Andrew Lucre at Vimeo, and Matt Barone at Complex Pop Culture.

Roller Town (Canada) Dir: Andrew Bush—A riotously funny, high-energy send-up of that ever-so-brief but immortal trend of disco celebration films that boogie-blasted cinemas in the early '80s, Roller Town is the warped brainchild of comedy collective Picnicface, brilliant sketch comedians hailed by many as the SCTV of our day. Official Selection: Slamdance 2012. Official site. IMDb. Facebook. Quebec Premiere.

V/H/S (USA) Dirs: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard—The latest in an ongoing wave of both sledgehammer-strong anthology horror features and subjectively-shot found-footage chillers, V/H/S ranks among the best of the pack in both camps. Official Selection: Sundance 2012. Official site. IMDb. Wikipedia. Facebook. Quebec Premiere.

At The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Lowe states: "Refreshingly, V/H/S promises no more than it delivers, always a plus with genre fare." At Variety, Dennis Harvey notes that this "passel of rising indie horror helmers and writers, plus a couple of talents new to the genre, put several spins on found-footage fright in V/H/S. Omnibus feature brings energy and diverse story ideas to the subgenre kickstarted by The Blair Witch Project and kept commercially viable these days by Paranormal Activity sequels, but the segments vary in quality and the whole overstays its welcome at nearly two hours."

Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (Taiwan) Dir: Wei Te-Sheng—The most expensive Taiwanese action epic ever made, Warriors is the extraordinary untold story of the indigenous tribe, the Seediq and their fight for survival. Executive produced by John Woo. Presented roadshow style for the first time in Canada, uncut four-hour version with intermission! Official site. IMDb. Wikipedia.

At Variety, Justin Chang describes the film as a "wildly ambitious rumble-in-the-jungle battle epic arrives bearing so heavy a burden of industry expectations, one wishes the results were less kitschy and more coherent", but "still, the filmmaking has a raw physicality and crazy conviction it's hard not to admire." Chang also writes "there's an impressive degree of variation and anthropological detail in the weaponry and fighting techniques." At The Hollywood Reporter, Deborah Young finds the film "stunning to look at, authentic to a fault and a little tedious to follow", and praised the action set pieces as "spectacular, almost non-stop sequence of grisly hand-to-hand combat scenes." Young nonetheless cautions that "no matter how ingeniously it is varied, the non-stop fighting becomes oppressive in the long run" and the film's best scenes are in its "quieter moments."

Within his preview piece of the New York Asian Film Festival for The Village Voice, Michael Atkinson considers Warriors: "Wei Te-sheng's two-part Seediq Bale (2011) clocks in at more than 4.5 hours, but it moves like a runaway herd through the story of 'the Wushe Incident,' the bloody 1930 uprising of Taiwanese tribes against the occupying Japanese forces. It's a fresh slice of crazy history to us (I didn't know that Taiwan had so many loincloth-wearing headhunter clans deep into the 20th century), and Wei moves methodically, from the 1895 invasion and subsequent years of uneasy coexistence, to the eventual explosion of jungle combat (axes hack, heads roll, blood rivers flow) and the subsequent retaliation by Japan. The robust Seediq tribespeople all look like hunky members of Powers Boothe's extended family, and the film is daffy about the Seediq 'rainbow bridge' mythology, but the unrelenting battles are shot and cut with breathless intensity." [Hyperlinks omitted.]

Wrong (USA) Dir: Quentin Dupieux—If you were among those who caught the international premiere of Dupieux's previous oddity Rubber at Fantasia in 2010, you've got an inkling of the spectacular brand of absurdist imagination you're in store for here. As officially synopsized: "Dolph Springer wakes up one morning to realize he has lost the love of his life, his dog, Paul. During his quest to get Paul (and his life) back, Dolph radically changes the lives of others. In his journey to find Paul, Dolph may lose something even more vital—his mind." Official Selection: Sundance 2012. Official site. Canadian Premiere.

Anticipating Wrong at Sundance (where the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize), Eric Kohn noted at indieWire: "French director Quentin Dupieux—also known as the DJ artist Mr. Oizo—last caught the attention of the film world with the highest high concept to hit theaters last year with the outrageously meta 'killer tire movie' known as Rubber. Love it or hate it, Rubber was an utterly unique exploration of cinematic narrative, a riotous takedown of Hollywood formula and unapologetically amused with itself from start to finish. Now Dupieux has made a movie seemingly eager to state its edginess in title alone: Wrong, which stars William Fictner and Steve Little, apparently involves one man's quixotic journey to find his missing dog. Early buzz suggests that Dupieux really brought the crazy this time out, and the official synopsis makes it sound that the story really tracks the dissolution of its protagonist's sanity." Kohn then followed suit with his review.

"From the start," Dennis Harvey writes at Variety, "Dupieux seems more delighted with the pic's forced quirkiness than most audiences will be." At The Hollywood Reporter, John Defore notes that lead actor Jack Plotnick's "unkempt persistence" and "a wry score by Tahiti Boy and Mr. Oizo (Oizo being the nom de musique of Dupieux himself) give the film just enough narrative momentum to carry it through short stretches in which cryptic plotlessness threatens to sink it."

Wrong's press kit (PDF) offers insightful interviews with both Director Quentin Dupieux and Producer Gregory Bernard. Further interviews with Dupieux are available at The Hollywood Reporter (which also offers a sneak peek of the film), Anthem, and The Film Stage. An alternate interview with Bernard is available at Screen International.