Although his career has had major setbacks, especially in the somewhat irregular early stages, no one can escape the fact that Enrique Urbizu is one of the great directors of our cinema. Specialized in thriller, at least it is the genre in which we find its most indisputable peaks, we are talking about a guy capable of moving with the same conviction through other fields such as comedy, drama or even the western.
All Enrique Urbizu’s films, from least to most
9 “Your girlfriend is crazy”
It is not ‘Your girlfriend is crazy’, far from it, one of the most memorable beginnings in the history of our cinema. And of course, nor does it serve to highlight the main virtues and the great talent that would mark the professional future of a rather shy Enrique Urbizu behind the camera and unable to extract anything visually interesting from a graceless comedy that the script doesn’t help too much. To save something, let’s say the cast does everything they can to avoid sinking. He fails, but the precious effort remains.
8 ‘woman’s horns’
Except for the lead role of María Barranco, one of those wonderful actresses who are always good, ‘Cuernos de mujer’ is a proposal in which it costs horrors to find something worth saving. Neither Urbizu’s directing, to say the least flat, nor Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón’s screenplay adapting Carmen Rico-Godoy’s novel succeeds in elevating the film above mediocre. A fairly secondary job in the director’s career.
7 ‘How to be unhappy and enjoy it’
Pleasant comedy, of a tight duration, something that always pleases, a simple but effective story and with a five-star cast featuring a wonderful Carmen Maura, nothing new in that sense, ‘How to be unhappy and enjoy it’ is one of the lightest works by Enrique Urbizu up to date. And that’s how it works, as functional entertainment without too much hassle or excitement. A manual “shown”.
6 ‘A bit’
After the failed ‘Cuernos de mujer’, Enrique Urbizu raised the level of his professional career a little with ‘Cachito’, a film that, without bordering on the greatness of the director’s subsequent proposals, it worked from beginning to end from the naturalness, from everyday life and, above all, from the charisma of its characters. Furthermore, it is one of the few truly satisfying adaptations of the Pérez-Reverte catalog, which gives it even more value in terms of artistic success.
5 ‘There Will Be No Peace for the Wicked’
Okay, ‘There will be no peace for the wicked’ had the definitive interpretation of José Coronado, one of the great performers and undisputed star of our cinema, a masterly direction by the always stimulating Enrique Urbizu and a particularly unforgettable final blow. The point is, beyond that, what remained was a patriotic film noir exercise with more intentions than results and, wow, a considerable number of yawns. It’s far, far from being a bad movie, but, for a server, we have a tape here that is a little overrated from its premiere.
There will be no peace for the wicked in eCartelera
4 ‘Freedom’
Slightly superior in its television format, we recall that it was released as a miniseries and an exclusive film for theaters with retouched editing, ‘Libertad’ is one of those works in which you always have the feeling of seeing the greatness hidden in the routine. It is a voluntarily arid, dry and contained proposal that is unleashed only when its characters, especially the one played by an extraordinary Bebe, step on the ground of passion and absolute dedication. Corset in her, otherwise lucky, on stage and with a firm direction in every step of her, “Libertad” never ends up exploding at the height of what it promises, but its essence of classic western and its fabulous final stretch justify more than just the vision.
Freedom in eCartelera
3 ‘Stains of life’
After the impact obtained with the excellent ‘La caja 507’, Enrique Urbizu repeated a year later with José Coronado in ‘La vida clava’, proposal that confirmed the phase of full inspiration where the director was. This is a drama with a slow tone and absolute control story of frightened losers, doubts, fears, masks and wingless angels dressed in suits It offered us the opportunity to enjoy magnificent performances and, above all, a director with very clear ideas and an iron fist to defend them. A tape that takes its time to catch you, yes, but when he does, he won’t let you go.
Two ‘Everything for the dough’
Three years after signing such a disappointing debut as “Tu novia está loca”, Enrique Urbizu dispelled all possible doubts in grand style with the fabulous “Todo por la pasta”. With a collection of unforgettable characters, performances to frame, with María Barranco and Kiti Mánver at the helm, a screenplay of steel and a direction of pure nerves and muscles, This giddy thriller grabbed you by the collar from its frantic prologue and kept you in a permanent state of tension and interest until one last scene to remember. A (deserved) classic of our cinema.
1 “The 507 box”
The perfect balance. This is the main virtue of Enrique Urbizu’s best film to date: ‘La caja 507’. Led by two great performances by Antonio Resines, impressive from start to finish, and José Coronado, this hypnotic thriller manages all of its pieces with overwhelming precision, completing each of its narrative pirouettes with the cinematic language of the masters, an incessant pace but never crazy and a masterful direction. Something similar to the masterpiece.
Box 507 in eCartelera
With classic shapes and excellent taste when it comes to making casts and directing them, Urbizu has earned its well-deserved status within the industry based on proposals far from the more commercial elementsthus proposing a path that is as personal as it is satisfying, as autonomous as it is own and as identifiable as it is enjoyable.
Waiting to know his next steps, to always follow with interest, enthusiasm and expectations, we can continue to have fun reviewing a filmography in which successes outweigh mistakes and in which we can find more than one exceptional one. Enrique Urbizu as his only point of measurement and flexion.
Source: E Cartelera
