An actress who appeared in a couple of Henry Jaglom films ("Eating", "Venice/Venice"), Daphna Kastner is also a writer-director whose first film was 1995's little-seen "French Exit". In front of and behind the camera, Kastner is enthusiastic but content with straightforward visuals and a lackadaisical lead performance as she delivers a polite, pretentious fish-out-of-water romancer in her second directorial effort.
"Spanish Fly" opens today at the Mann Westwood, and it might generate a little interest based on the male cast, including Toni Canto ("All About My Mother") and Martin Donovan. The modestly budgeted European co-production distributed by Avalanche Releasing will buzz around feebly for a short time.
Kastner plays Zoe, a young American journalist on a book-writing trip to Madrid, Spain, with extra emphasis on the character's klutziness and poor grasp of Spanish. She's self-absorbed to the point of misreading most men -- which, it turns out, is the subject of her project. Specifically, she's investigating the myth of machismo, while not about to deny her womanly urges in the process.
Sounds like a potential sexy update on the adventuresome-Yank-liberated-by-sensual-Europeans cliche, but "Spanish" has little going for it even with lowered expectations. Zoe asks the most banal, simple-minded questions of her random interviewees, while smart, attractive translator Antonio (Canto) feeds her a line of hooey and offers her several chances to get more personal input, which she resists.
Flighty and jaded romantically, with a cartoonish ex-boyfriend (Danny Huston) who has joined a "men's group," Zoe is unnerved by all the amore among the environs. When she crosses paths with older university lecturer Carl (Donovan), she embarks on a casual fling that only delays the inevitable narrative twist. Her agent calls to tell her the book deal is off, and she leaves Madrid in search of her long-lost father, a Spanish man with whom her mother had a passionate love affair.
A handsome brute of a guitar player (Antonio Castro) briefly wins over the heroine with his sexual charisma. Momentarily lighting up the screen, Marianne Sagebrecht and Rossy de Palma appear in a few scenes. Kastner at least knew to hurry things up at the end, concluding with a long-delayed, satisfaction-guaranteed tryst between Zoe and a patient but certifiably macho man.
SPANISH FLY
Avalanche Releasing
Miramax Films
Star Line, Portman Entertainment, Banfilm
A Juan Alexander production
Screenwriter-director: Daphna Kastner
Producer: Juan Alexander
Director of photography: Arnaldo Catinari
Production designer: Alain Bainee
Editor: Caroline Biggerstaff
Costume designer: Jose Maria De Cossio
Music: Mario de Benito
Color/stereo
Cast:
Zoe: Daphna Kastner
Antonio: Toni Canto
Carl: Martin Donovan
Julio: Antonio Castro
John: Danny Huston
Rosa: Marianne Sagebrecht
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"Spanish Fly" opens today at the Mann Westwood, and it might generate a little interest based on the male cast, including Toni Canto ("All About My Mother") and Martin Donovan. The modestly budgeted European co-production distributed by Avalanche Releasing will buzz around feebly for a short time.
Kastner plays Zoe, a young American journalist on a book-writing trip to Madrid, Spain, with extra emphasis on the character's klutziness and poor grasp of Spanish. She's self-absorbed to the point of misreading most men -- which, it turns out, is the subject of her project. Specifically, she's investigating the myth of machismo, while not about to deny her womanly urges in the process.
Sounds like a potential sexy update on the adventuresome-Yank-liberated-by-sensual-Europeans cliche, but "Spanish" has little going for it even with lowered expectations. Zoe asks the most banal, simple-minded questions of her random interviewees, while smart, attractive translator Antonio (Canto) feeds her a line of hooey and offers her several chances to get more personal input, which she resists.
Flighty and jaded romantically, with a cartoonish ex-boyfriend (Danny Huston) who has joined a "men's group," Zoe is unnerved by all the amore among the environs. When she crosses paths with older university lecturer Carl (Donovan), she embarks on a casual fling that only delays the inevitable narrative twist. Her agent calls to tell her the book deal is off, and she leaves Madrid in search of her long-lost father, a Spanish man with whom her mother had a passionate love affair.
A handsome brute of a guitar player (Antonio Castro) briefly wins over the heroine with his sexual charisma. Momentarily lighting up the screen, Marianne Sagebrecht and Rossy de Palma appear in a few scenes. Kastner at least knew to hurry things up at the end, concluding with a long-delayed, satisfaction-guaranteed tryst between Zoe and a patient but certifiably macho man.
SPANISH FLY
Avalanche Releasing
Miramax Films
Star Line, Portman Entertainment, Banfilm
A Juan Alexander production
Screenwriter-director: Daphna Kastner
Producer: Juan Alexander
Director of photography: Arnaldo Catinari
Production designer: Alain Bainee
Editor: Caroline Biggerstaff
Costume designer: Jose Maria De Cossio
Music: Mario de Benito
Color/stereo
Cast:
Zoe: Daphna Kastner
Antonio: Toni Canto
Carl: Martin Donovan
Julio: Antonio Castro
John: Danny Huston
Rosa: Marianne Sagebrecht
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/1/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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