ma-cortes
Spanish production with fine acting , colorful cinematography and rousing score by Alberto Iglesias . Julio Medem directed the film for Sogetel and Lolafilms and it was released in 1995 . Set in the Aragon region, this interesting and thought-provoking film dealing with a story of a solitary man named Angel , a strange young who comes to rid a small Spanish town of pests in the lands . The local wine-making industry has found these bugs responsible for giving their product an "earthy" taste that has worried local opinion . Meantime in the little town , Angel becomes involved with two gorgeous and very diverse females , the simple and shy Angela (Emma Suarez) , and the sex-hungry Mari (Silke) , both of whom impact deeply on his life . Furthermore , other rare characters such as Patricio (Karra Elejalde) and a Pub's owner named Alberto (Nancho Novo) appear in his life . This is a slow-paced , deliberate though magnetic rural drama .It contains marvelous cinematography , breathtaking musical score and enjoyable production design . It is a riveting film though sometimes a little boring and overlong . Anyway, the film is interesting , thematically intriguing and strange ; Medem has his own style of telling a story . It is excellently played by a magnificent plethora of main actors such as Carmelo Gomez , Emma Suarez , Silke and Karra Elejalde , Julio Medem's ordinary . Very good acting by Carmelo Gomez as Angel, unsettling with a "ghost" of himself , he is a tiny grubs exterminator recently released from a mental hospital ; however , Antonio Banderas was supposed to play Ángel in the film, but due to schedule problems, director Julio Medem replaced him with Carmelo . Excellent performance by two beautiful women -Emma Suarez , Silke- who impact on a great scale about Angel/Carmelo Gomez life . Good support cast gives right performance and full of prestigious players such as Nancho Novo as Alberto , Txema Blasco as Tomás , Miguel Palenzuela as Tío Ángel and Pepe Viyuela as Ulloa . Intriguing as well as evocative musical score mirroring well the scenery, its people and the story line, it was superbly composed by several times Oscar nominated Alberto Iglesias , Julio Medem's usual . In addition , a spotless pictorial cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe and a willingness , almost perfect of the elements of each shot , every sequence , every space ; being rightly filmed in Calatayud, Cariñena, Cosuenda , Paniza , Zaragoza, Aragón . Aguirresarobe subsequently would make a prestigious career in Hollywood such as ¨Fright night , ¨The twilight saga: eclipse¨, ¨The road¨ , ¨The others¨ and many others .The motion picture was well produced by Manuel Lombardero and originally directed by Julio Medem , this his third movie, "Tierra," released in 1996, was selected for the Cannes Film Festival . Medem had been making short movies with a super-8 camera owned by his father until he received a call from a new production company called Sogetel and executive producers Fernando de Garcillán , José Luis Olaizola , Enrique López Lavigne . They were interested in his script titled "Vacas" . It won the Goya Award from the Spanish academy for best new director, and won prizes in the festivals of Tokyo, Torino and Alexandria. In 1993 Medem made his second movie, "The red squirrel¨. It confirmed Medem's talents and won prizes in Fort Lauderdale, Bogota and Bucarest. In 1998 Medem released " The lovers of the Polar Circle ," considered his best movie by most of his fans . It also became a box-office hit with more than one million spectators in Spain and was also released worldwide. In 2001 his fourth movie, "Lucia and sex ," became a huge hit and began the career of actress Paz Vega who won the Goya for best new actress . Although in 2003 failed with the release , "The Basque ball" , a documentary that portrays the phenomenon of nationalism and terrorism in the Basque Country of northern Spain , it was very polemical and partial . In 2007 directed the flop ¨Caotica Ana¨ and in 2010 , ¨Room in Rome¨, a successful though with not sense film , plenty of nudism and only starred by two gorgeous naked girls . Julio Medem is for sure one of the the most important and original Spanish filmmaker. Well worth watching if you get the chance .
ronchow
My first exposure to Medem's films was through 'Lovers of the Artic Circle'. Right away I grew fond of his style of directing - meditative, philosophical at times, poetic, personal and often abstract. 'Tierra' was one of his earlier films, dated 1996. However, time has not eroded the film's merit.The protagonist, called Angel, had just come out of a mental institution and was struggling to get back to a normal life of work and love. In love he was linked up to two women, played by Emma Suarez and a young Silke. Both very attractive to look at and contributed to a few very erotic moments in the film.'Tierra' told the story of Angle's mental struggle, and the struggle of others around him. There is really no message in the film despite the many quotes relating to atoms, stars and the universe. What we are left with is a story of human interaction and struggle, and love. This is one very usual human drama and well told by Medem.
jmabel
I liked this film a great deal. Medem is a wonderful director, who can take you for more of a ride with plot alone than most other directors can do with special effects: keep your brain in high gear to follow this story.Among other twists, we are left to wonder just how much is Angel's hallucination and how much is really occurring. The only fault I can find with the film is that this is not left even more open: I'd rather not know that there is any particular reason to doubt Angel's sanity.I loved the notion of an exterminator (named Angel, no less) sent to kill off an epidemic of burrowing insects that change the flavor of the local wine, even though he rather likes the altered taste, as do at least some of the locals. I also felt that the theme of a man being drawn carnally to one woman and equally strongly (but less physically) to another, while it has been explored often -- too often -- has seldom been explored better or in a manner more appropriate to the cinema.Settle back with a glass of Rioja and watch it. Maybe twice.
gerardo-5
The film tells the story of a technician who comes to a little village to solve the problem of the local wines, they taste to soil, in that task he will find several charachters that will start to enter wildly in his life. To me this one is the most discret film in the career of Julio Medem, a genial creator. Even if the film follows the general guidelines of the rest of the filmography of Medem (symbolism and psychologicalism), it lacks of the potence to attract so much the audience.
