Explota Explota

A film for fun, singing and dancing. Very good art, good actors and very good music. You leave the cinema happy and motivated.

Amusing picture packing twisted relationships , romantic comedy , dances with enjoyable sensuality and including agreeable melodies from Raffaela Carra songs. Set in 1973, after leaving her boyfriend Massimiliano (Giuseppe Maggio) at the altar in Rome, María (Ingrid Garcia Jonsson) at her thirties , decides to make a new start taking a return flight to Spain. An orphan without family, money, or resources, at her arrival to the Aiport of Barajas in the City of Madrid, María meets the sympathetic and friendly Amparo (Veronica Echegui) , who works as a flight attendant. Three months later María is living with Amparo, also working as a flight attendant in Barajas, when she meets again Pablo (Fernando Guallar) , now looking for a lost suitcase. After he gives her his work address, the suitcase is found and María takes it to return to Pablo, surprised to learn that he works in the Spanish TV channel. There she meets Chimo (Fernando Tejero) , a philander producer determined to turn María into a star as one of the dancers in the famous late show "Las Noches de Rosa" and while she falls in love for Pablo who results to be son of the stiff-upper-lip censor (Pedro Casablanc) of the strict television . As Celedonio, Pablo's father, works in TVE as censor carrying out a rigid censorship . In fact , during the Francisco Franco's dictatorship any media for the public eye as newspapers was controlled by censors , and then things go wrong when his son Pablo inherits the job and he has to control the indecent dressess of his girlfriend Maria . Experience the musical phenomenon ! .With the best hits of Raffaella Carrà !.

Entertaining and funny musical comedy with fine actors and attractive musical numbers that was success enough at Spanish box office . It is a funny picture dealing with couple relationships , jealousy , lies , family conflicts and anything else . Resulting to be a charming and bemusing picture based on the hit songs by the popular italian singer Raffaella Carrà . Screwball comedy seasoned with musical numbers and regular but professionally directed by Nacho Álvarez. Romantic Spanish comedy with good actors , spectacular musical numbers singing charming songs , and nice direction . There's an embarrassing plot about the censors during the Francoist regime -from 1939 to 1975- when had been forbidden to give any news considered blasphemous, subversive, obscene , or against the good manners . It is not surprising to recourse this Musical Comedy genre carried out by the same writer of ''The Other Side of the Bed'' and ''The two sides of the bed'' . The best parts of the movie are the choreographic numbers and known songs adapted in original model with roots in pop music of the eighties and nineties ; recreating the essence of the classic songs by body movements accompanying sensual melodies and lyrics . This is a charming musical comedy including love stories in which there are twisted messes , as well as the ordinary Spanish clichés . Colorful story of loves and jealousy in which predominates songs and musical spectacle . It has some moments of enjoyment as well as amusement and others quite a few embarrassing . Regular and unbalanced , but gaining the sympathy almost at all times . Bad timing results to be the voice of the singers with the actors , it is less achieved . The film had a fairly large budget in the case of Spanish cinema and with cast members who did her own singing . Still , the public turned away , probably driven away by the mediocre reviews that accused it of having somewhat bland musical numbers and a cast that failed to dazzle . Main actors give passable acting , such as Ingrid Garcia Jonsson as the stubborn Maria and the unknown Fernando Guallar with whom she is very much in love . Co-stars Veronica Echegui who steals the show as the funny, loudmouthed, vivacious, free-spirited Amparo . All of them play and dance wonderful and Raffaela Carra classic Spanish songs . Support cast is frankly good such as : Pedro Casablanc , Fran Morcillo, Carlos Hipólito , Fernando Tejero , interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . Furthermore , dances and choreography are pretty well , following Emilio Martinez Lazaro's ¨El Otro Lado De La Cama" style , "Scandalous" or ¨¿ Porque Se Frotan Patitas ¿¨ (2006) by Alvaro Begines and in French cinema wake , such as François Ozon' ¨Potiche¨ and ¨Eight Women¨ , and , of course , the international boxoffice ¨Mamma Mia¨ and its sequel ¨Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again¨ (2018) .

Including catching and evocative soundtrack by great composer Roque Baños . As well as glamorous and brilliant cinematography by Juan Carlos Gómez . The motion picture was middlingly but professionally directed by Nacho Álvarez in his film debut , as no big deal , the flick is acceptable and passable . However , accustomed to other successes in the Spanish cinema , Explota Explota (2020) failed to convince this time to criticism or public .

With such rich material that this film has to call upon- Spain in a heavily censored Franco era; the kitsch glory of Rafael Cara's music, fashion and architecture of the 1970's, this film recklessly rides rough through all, and we gain little pleasure in either a visual or text narrative.

The censorship storyline could be fascinating- but Franco's Spain is not explained. There is no context- or no comparison made between what people saw in the rest of Europe. "Hilda" the Rita Hayworth film, where she removes her gloves was considered too racy in Spain, and was censored. Instead, we see an old man, measuring skirts, and wielding scissors- but no explanation as to why he might be so important in a tv studio. And it's just slapstick- resulting in live Janet Jackson "nipplegate" moment, being broadcast on "nochebuena".

Rafaela's fun music is treated to a bunch of truly average dance routines- in planes, on boats, in telephone boxes. Ms Cara's dance ability is outstanding, and I am sure there are great dancers in Spain. But clearly they were all busy that day. Her dance is sexy and raunchy but performed within a vocabulary of 70's disco. Why they choose to make a pastiche of that "pulp fiction/ Saturday night fever moves" instead of exploring or referencing some of the crazy moves that existed in late 70's Spain?

And the design. Well, yes, it's bright and colourful. And all the anachronisms could be forgiven if it had a style. Rafaela Cara had a magnificent wardrobe- amazing catsuits. But the wardrobe department have gone to a bunch of party shops and stitched some digitally printed graphics onto some vaguely old fashioned garments. All the men seem to have a vaguely period jacket bought in Zara that someone thought looked right. The 70's, as encapsulated by Ms Cara was a spandex and sequinned sensation. It certainly wasn't all floppy collars and green eye shadow. Look at how chic "Baccara" are. This film is merely bright. No indication of social class, or background that we should see in a properly designed film. And several times the architecture and the graphics are just crass and wrong.

And I really felt no empathy with the lead character. She's neither a dancer, nor an actress. The role seems to call for a charismatic sexiness, a coquettishness of movement. This poor lead has an on button which is "cry" which she seems to do in every single scene. And somewhere she is meant to ooze a sensuality though the TV that she really lacks. Luckily, the second actress( for no narrative reason) seems to have most of the songs. At least she has an energy and vivacity!

I'm not sure why anyone would want to make an old fax paper copy of "Mama Mia", but the script writers obviously were locked in a room with that playing. It's really a tele novela of a script. A fluffy afternoon script you might vaguely watch when you are ironing. In comparison to some really well made popular cultural offerings coming from Spain- the very polished " La llamada" or "veneno" this film is a complete mess. I was so disappointed, because the source material is so rich.

If you see MAMMA MIA the movie; you should remember how bad singers and dancers were the main actors. The movie succeeded because of the fine integration of songs, history and views.

Something similar happens with this one. While Ingrid García Jonsson can dance but not so much sing Veronica Echegui can sing but is far from a dancer; however the catchy songs and some good acting make the thing works.

As HAIRSPRAY use the black/white integrations in the 1960s as a background to the story; My Heart goes Boom uses the last year of Franco's government and the fight to end censorship in Spain in 1973.

Other than that is basically a love story resolved quite fast and simple and with some simple dance numbers and songs.

In brief; is not on the level of Hairspray but is entertaining and the music is catchy.

This light musical comedy will make you spend a really enjoyable time with great music and an easygoing, but beautiful and full of energy, story.