Chrysanthepop I watched Alex de la Iglesia's 'La Comunidad' on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. This black comedy farce may bear some resemblance to films like 'Le Lòcataire' and 'Apartment Zero' but the only similarity is that all three films take place in an apartment building and the story involves the tenants. While the aforementioned examples are far darker in tone and disturbing to an extent, 'La Comunidad' is more satirical and comic.To get the minuses out of the way, the first half is quite slow but I'd suggest that one be patient because what follows is both chilling and funny. The suspense is brilliantly maintained.Jorge Guerricaechevarría and Álex de la Iglesia have penned a fine screenplay. The sometimes-subtle sometimes-not-subtle humour works on various levels. The laughably pathetic tenant characters are a delight and the protagonist Julia is easily recognizable. The score fits well and the lighting is exceptional. The art direction deserves special mention. The apartment building in itself is a character and the interiors look authentic.Carmen Maura is remarkable as her performance is completely natural. Plus, she looks very hot too. The actors playing the neighbours do a terrific job too.In the end, I'm pleased I saw this as I can always enjoy a good black comedy.

Close_The_Door I especially enjoyed watching again Carmen Maura after seeing her in "Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios". And in general I particularly like Spanish cinema, especially its taste for grotesque and dreamlike situations. The plot seems to me full of biblical echoes, the soul sacrificed on the Altar of Mammon. If it were not for the end, I would think the director is conveying a "Jesuitic" message. And I am yet not convinced he is not. Although the very first moments of the film prevents the spectators they are watching a thriller, I wasn't prepared to see such a climax of tension. Once I had "got the story", it was nearly automatic for me to foresee what would happen in the following scene. But at one crucial moment, the film really surprised me. My vote is 7.

MARIO GAUCI Generally delightful black comedy - with a uniquely Spanish outlook - about the greedy inhabitants of a condominium who are after the lottery winnings of one of the tenants, an aged loner, who has died in mysterious circumstances. The plot is put in motion with the arrival of leading lady Carmen Maura who works for the company owning the building, but who insinuates herself into a vacant apartment situated right beneath that of the old man! The acting is uniformly good; still, despite the mostly elderly cast, the narrative involves some intensely physical action (especially the rooftop climax) and quite a bit of violence! In fact, the youngest member of the cast is a rotund, child-like "Star Wars" nut who's often seen dressed up in full Darth Vader garb - but he's not without resources and, ultimately, has a strong bearing on the resolution of the whole dilemma! Unfortunately, the anarchic finale - in which, after all the trouble that went into actually obtaining the old man's money, it's practically squandered away - emerges as perhaps the only false note in the entire film!Incidentally, I've also just rented De La Iglesia's PERDITA DURANGO (1997; see review below), and may also get a chance to watch his THE DAY OF THE BEAST (1995) in the near future...

gleichal Alex de la Iglesía directed the movie La Comunidad in 2000. The film was set in Spain. The principal actors and actresses are Carmen Maura (Julia) and Eduardo Antuña (Charly). The movie is about the things people will do to obtain their dreams. Julia, a woman of 40 years, works temporarily for a real estate agency. She is in love with one of the apartments that she is trying to sell In the apartment, there was a leak and she called the firefighters. This caused the firefighters to find a dead old man in the apartment above her. In the wallet of the dead man, there was a map to find 300,000,000 pesetas under the floor. Ricardo the husband of Julia, didn't know about the money and was really mad at her. It was because she has a job and he doesn't, so he left her. The neighbors of the dead man knew about the money and watched over his apartment. They all wanted a part of the money and thought that they deserved it. Emilio is the leader of the group and was with the dead man when he won the money. The dead man was very afraid of the neighbors and never left his apartment. Now the neighbors suspect that Julia has the money and try to kill her. In the process they end up killing each other. The movie is a comedy with some parts of terror and crime. It has a lot of dark humor and a lot of obscure parts. I didn't like the scenes with the dead bodies Especially the one when Dominguez died in the elevator. The characters are energetic and full of emotions. One of my favorite was Charly because he thought he was Darth Vader. He is funny and a little abstract. One major theme in the movie is greed. A lot of the characters are very greedy. They want all of the money for themselves and will kill others for it. I think it is a good representation of greedy people. It is a little exaggerated but in real life people have killed others for money. In conclusion, La Comunidad is a good comedy with animated and vivid characters. The plot is new and exciting. I would recommend this movie to all.