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...
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...