Caniche

Bigas Luna is one of the most interesting spanish filmmakers working today, a director always faithful to his own style and his obsessions (mostly food and sex). His movies are sensual (JAMON, JAMON), strange (LA TETA Y LA LUNA), often fascinating (LA CAMARERA DEL TITANIC), sometimes disappointing (HUEVOS DE ORO). But here I'm talking only about his most modern films (from LOLA or ANGUSTIA, more or less), his first movies were completely different and CANICHE is one of them.

Like BILBAO, CANICHE is disturbing, ugly, dirty, sordid, but also strangely beautiful. Is like poetry extracted from ugliness... It tells the story of 2 brothers, Bernardo (Àngel Jové, the lead from BILBAO) and Eloisa (Consol Tura), who live alone in a huge mansion and as result from an inheritance, begin to hate each other... Their little dog, a white poodle ('caniche' in spanish) becomes the unusual witness of this situation, just like us, and the real lead of the film.

An excellent film very similar to BILBAO and an example of how talented but how different Luna was in the late 70's. And yes, he was better...