User Reviews

A terrific dark tale by Alex De La Iglesia with a phenomenal Carmen Maura. The film is a crazy relative of Polanski's "The Tenant" and Donovan's Apartment Zero" It takes the sinister neighbors from those two masterpieces and creates something unique. Tension and laughter alternate and commingle in a constant state of euphoria. Compelling viewing for lovers of dark comedies, this is one of the most surprising and entertaining I've seen in a long time.

Roaring and twisted film by the king of black comedy , Alex De La Iglesia . Outrageous movie with odd characters , surreal imagery and twisted plot . Alex De la Iglesia is an excellent and outlandish Spanish director , he had much success as "Accion Mutante" , " El Dia De la Bestia" , "Perlita Durango" and ¨Crimen Ferpecto¨ , among others . De la Iglesia is back with a tragical comedy about a middle-aged woman called Julia (Carmen Maura) finds 300 million pesetas hidden in a dead man's house while selling an apartment , then a community of next-door neighbours (Sancho Gracia , Terele Pavez , Kiti Manver , Paca Gabaldon , among others) headed by a nasty administrator (Emilio Gutierrez Caba) to be aware her plans . The hate between them grows as fast, and as much, as their strong facing off and there takes place murders . It all ends with a breathtaking and operatic duel in the heights . Black humor gives way to suspense, closely followed by embarrassing events that doesn't take long in coming to a head in undisguised pandemonium . Here Alex deals with a homage to dark humor and a typical Spanish story in which there are comedy, tongue-in-cheek , humor, killings, action, drama and results to be pretty entertaining . It's an exaggerated drama/comedy giving the perfect tone through the entire film , you can either follow it or just wander about the ridiculousness of every single minute . Some may regard this kind of dramatic comedy dull or dumb , but the truth is its the most simple , minimalistic, rawest, and pretentious comedy you will ever watch .

This is a full-on surreal Psychotronic black-comedy that blends thrills , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of dark humor , drama and exciting situations . Packed with scenes of absurd nature, this story is a fantastic farce, as we follow the ridiculous situations of a varied group of quirky characters whose destination is dictated by an exaggerated ambition . Good acting by Carmen Maura as a 40-ish real estate agent now forced to face the wrath of a very peculiar community of selfish neighbors . The narration is so filled with colorful characters , nutty comedy, crazy violence mixed with comedy or with surreal elements and an underlying sense of tragicomedy, and it is so excessive and plenty of surprises, one can't help but keep watching, much as it is over the top in many an occasion. The film works on various levels and is constantly reconfigured , however contains some embarrassing , contriving moments and also certain excess . Alex De La Iglesia has created a picture here that in all honesty is very difficult to categorise in terms of genre , as there's a little bit of action , quite a lot of comedy, a good deal of suspense and a host of extreme gruesomeness ; but it does not fit into any one genre very well at all, in truth this is one of the things that makes it good . De La Iglesia reigns in his style this time around and delivers a utterly watchable takedown of ambition and obsession that certainly delivers a few madly inspired moments . ¨La Comunidad¨ captures the essence of the best Álex De La Iglesia, a film maker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . Acting personnel all do excellent work in bizarre roles . But special notice needs to be made for Emilio Gutierrez Caba as an unscrupulous administrator ; furthermore Terele Pavez also being quite ridiculously role throughout . Excellent plethora of secondaries as Sancho Gracia , Marta Fernandez Muro , Ramon Barea , Manuel Tejada , Antonio De La Torre , Marivi Bilbao , Enrique Villen , Jesus Bonilla , Luis Tosar and many others . Interesting screenplay Alex De La Iglesia and Javier Guerricaechevarria who usually work united . Atmospheric as well as glamorous cinematography by Kiko De La Rica with a good camera work . Suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Roque Baños , the soundtrack flows great with the film in every way, and creates fantastic atmospheres in every moment.

The motion picture was well directed by De La Iglesia . He's a cool director has got much success as ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨ and ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . Nonsense, ridicule , laughters , absurdity , disturbing scenes .. and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . 'La Comunidad' (2000) won several Goya prizes and a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . 'La Comunidad' obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and results to be a lot of fun, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for dark humor buffs and Alex De Iglesia fans.

In Madrid, Julia (Carmen Maura) is a broker of fifty and something years trying to sell an old apartment without garage, but downtown and well located. When she visits the place with her clients, she realizes that the apartment is ready for living, having all furniture and outfits. She decides to stay in the apartment for a couple of days with her loser mate while performing the sale. There is a water infiltration through the ceiling from the upper apartment and the firemen are called. They find the neighbor, an old man, dead in a very dirty apartment. Julia finds by chance three hundred millions of pesetas in his apartment, but becomes trapped by the other weird neighbors that want to get the old man's money for themselves. This suspenseful tale of greed, with lots of black humor, is another great movie of Aléx de la Iglesia (of `Mutant Action', `The Day of the Beast' and `Perdita Durango' among others). Alternating crime and thriller with very dark comedy in bizarre situations, it is an excellent entertainment for fans of this genre. I liked it a lot. This movie was awarded with the Goya Award. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `A Comunidade' (`The Community')

I watched Alex de la Iglesia's 'La Comunidad' on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. This black comedy farce may bear some resemblance to films like 'Le Lòcataire' and 'Apartment Zero' but the only similarity is that all three films take place in an apartment building and the story involves the tenants. While the aforementioned examples are far darker in tone and disturbing to an extent, 'La Comunidad' is more satirical and comic.

To get the minuses out of the way, the first half is quite slow but I'd suggest that one be patient because what follows is both chilling and funny. The suspense is brilliantly maintained.

Jorge Guerricaechevarría and Álex de la Iglesia have penned a fine screenplay. The sometimes-subtle sometimes-not-subtle humour works on various levels. The laughably pathetic tenant characters are a delight and the protagonist Julia is easily recognizable. The score fits well and the lighting is exceptional. The art direction deserves special mention. The apartment building in itself is a character and the interiors look authentic.

Carmen Maura is remarkable as her performance is completely natural. Plus, she looks very hot too. The actors playing the neighbours do a terrific job too.

In the end, I'm pleased I saw this as I can always enjoy a good black comedy.

Alex De La Iglesia is one of a triumvirate of Spanish directors whose deliciously black comedies have found a sizeable audience outside of Spain (the other two being Bigas Luna and the master Pedro Almodovar). Iglesia's debut ACCIONE MUTANTE was a wonderfully perverse low budget sci-fi parody, but it was his super-dark horror comedy THE DAY OF THE BEAST that first brought him international recognition, and a brief and unlikely stab at Hollywood with the entertaining PERDITA DURANGO.

LA COMMUNIDAD shows that Iglesia has matured a *lot* as a film maker, and feels much slicker and more accomplished than his earlier films. Carmen Maura (Spain's finest actress) plays an estate agent with a gift for telling lies, who discovers a stash of money in an appartment she has to show to some clients. She thinks this is what her life has been waiting for, but she doesn't count on THE COMMUNITY that inhabits the appartment building.

LA COMMUNIDAD is a wonderful thing - a horror movie about ordinary people. Forget mutants, satanists or the devil himself - none of these are as scary as the guy next door! Iglesia brings out the darkest side of our human nature, bringing out delicious black comedy, horror and thriller elements without the need to invoke anything supernatural or fantastical.

Iglesia's direction is assured - helped no doubt by having a veteren like Maura in the lead role. The pacing of the film is spot on, and the atmosphere and tension is built to great effect. The film is creepy, crazy and builds to real edge of the seat tension. The characters are all wonderful, and the cast give great performances. A great piece of work!

9/10

I especially enjoyed watching again Carmen Maura after seeing her in "Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios". And in general I particularly like Spanish cinema, especially its taste for grotesque and dreamlike situations.

The plot seems to me full of biblical echoes, the soul sacrificed on the Altar of Mammon. If it were not for the end, I would think the director is conveying a "Jesuitic" message. And I am yet not convinced he is not.

Although the very first moments of the film prevents the spectators they are watching a thriller, I wasn't prepared to see such a climax of tension. Once I had "got the story", it was nearly automatic for me to foresee what would happen in the following scene. But at one crucial moment, the film really surprised me. My vote is 7.

I was really surprised when I watched this movie - only de la Iglesia's movie I watched before this was "La dia de la bestia" (Day of the beast) which was very good but this masterpiece is even better ! Here is everything: twisted plot where all characters are "twisted" (even one that looks good and nice at the beginning turn opposite), atmosphere is great, humor is bizzare and black like a night :) ... and there are some rather gory scenes with amazing action-stunt ending !

I mean, worth watching of any minute - I give it 10 ! Highly recommended !

The 5th movie of the great ALEX DE LA IGLESIA, introduces us to Julia (Carmen Maura), a woman who works in a real estate agency that is suddenly 300 million (I calculate that pesetas in a format that I imagine would become unmanageable ) hidden in a flat, so you will have to face the crazy community of neighbors, headed by an unscrupulous administrator who had just gone on vacation to Disney and a myriad of characters customarily delaiglesianos, that is, neighborhood cartoons but recognizable : the Cuban heartthrob, the old rabble, the bad mother, the innocent woman, the curmudgeon, the Star Wars fan (unmissable and with preponderance), the interested person, etc., who will do everything possible to retain her and keep the Fortune. Comedy but with the classic dramatic touch of the director, without losing sarcasm and humorous bizarre.

Julia(Carmen Maura)is a temp at real estate agency, her first job is to show some clients around a recently vacated apartment in an old district. The apartment is to Julia's surprise fully furnished with all mod cons and much more and with the former tenant being deceased, this gives her the idea of having a romantic meal there with her husband as its nice and bright and warm, their place is damp and cold. During a romantic liaison the ceiling falls in from the apartment above and hundreds of cockroaches fall on them, when the fire fighters arrive to check out the flat above they find the tenant deceased and decaying, Julia finds a map there and which she believes might lead her to some hidden treasure, as the deceased was a lottery millione, sure enough she finds 300 million pesetas in cash stashed under some floorboards. With all the neighbours acting curious and following her, she takes up temporary residence until she can escape with the loot.

Darkly comic thriller thats a mix between Shallow Grave and Polanski's The Tenant, with well rounded oddball characters set in a claustrophobically old apartment block. its refreshingly surprising at almost every turn, the only non surprising thing being, we the viewer know its going to be virtually impossible to escape easily with the money. As the film develops we learn the real dark truth being La Comunidad, as the pace simultaneously races, the deeds become ever more darker. Beautifully directed by the versatile Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, it's a pleasure to watch, as he mixes comedy and horror to perfection.The film as a whole is not strictly horror, but there's plenty of bravura horror scenes here to keep horror fans like myself very happy indeed.

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...

6 out of 10, that's not bad right? I loved main actress' performance! I will remember Carmen Maura. She was so funny few times. I didn't see it coming to such a crazy end of the movie, it didn't looked like it's going to that direction. The start of the movie was kind of slow in my opinion. The overall experience I had was not so good. I surely wouldn't watch this movie again. What I really loved were the actors I watched in other roles than some Spanish series I really liked. Boliche and Santi from "Los Serranos", Mariano and Mariza from "Aqui no hay quien viva". They are awesome, I even wished they had some bigger roles in this movie.

La Comunidad starts with a great premise and an interesting sense of mystery. We are much more quickly introduced to the mystery side of the story than in Rosemary's Baby for instance, and maybe that is why the whole backstory has to be made clear pretty soon and then we're done with the mystery thing.

Switching gears we find ourselves in a gross comedic mode that simply cannot follow up from the mystery expectations, and quite frankly this "comunidad" is not the scary gang/cult you might have feared in the first place so this is a gigantic mistake to jump from creepy to laughable stock. To me this is proof enough that Alex de la Iglesia is just a messy director, certainly full of energy, but certainly too full of himself to challenge his projects sufficiently and earn his way out of the B-movie curiosity stage.

This movie was great, i really loved the character development,the way director Alex de la Iglesia used its shots and gave us this dark comedy with suspense filled film. Now as a part of my vast collection this film stands as a great film from its director, i was (and still am in some sort of way) in love with his "Day of the beast" now his latest La Comunidad is a great film that shows us a fun story about people ways into big time money. I hope you have a chance to see it and have a blast about its crazyness and its fun ways to entertain all ages. The starwars freak in this film was so funny, i just love his scenes. I want to give it a good 10 out of 10 on Spanish cool horror/suspense films.

The movie is well shot, well edited. It is not lacking in any technical aspect. The pacing, acting, and dialogues are good too. However, if you are looking for a realistic plot, this one isn't it. Things that certain characters do in secret, suddenly everyone knows, and this isn't questioned by those certain characters. Other characters simply know things that they should not have known. Or they act like nobody's watching them, acting out secret plans, even when in fact they KNOW that they are being watched.

But it's not supposed to be a movie that makes sense. It's supposed to be a movie about crazy characters doing crazy things. So if that doesn't bother you, then you will find it pretty funny. It also features a good jab at star wars fans. I bet the director doesn't have much respect for those movies.

Alex de la Iglesia creates an amazing mixture with Thriller and Comedy. As a comedy is absolutely hilarious, humour is dark as night. As a thriller is technically perfect, your house becomes a true hell, and your lovely neighbours becomes the most terrific freaks. There is not a single mistake in the script, which has also has some surprises to the viewer, and the resources, the camera work, the sound usage, everything is perfect. Maura is great, and also is all the supporting cast. No doubt, this movie will become a classical of the spanish cinema. 10/10

In every community there norms and rules. Some communities do not like it when a new person enters their community. If that person does not accept the rules, that person is not accepted into the community. In the movie, Commonwealth, by Alex de la Iglesia, if the rules are broken, people will die. Carmen Maura plays the role of the new neighbor, Julia. The combination of Julia and a large sum of money, is what destroys a normal community.

Julia is an employee at the real estate agency. She moves into the apartment of one that she should be trying to sell. She moves into that apartment because it is much nicer than her own. When there is a leak from the floor above, she calls the firefighters in. She discovered the money that the man who lived there had left behind after he died. The neighbors discovered that she had the money and they all tried to get the money. Many neighbors dies because all of them were selfish and wanted the money for themselves. This plot is very different but interesting at the same time. I think that this plot is real, more or less, but a little extreme.

The principal theme is that money can change a person in a very bad way. All the neighbors were mad with thinking that they wouldn't get the money. Nobody needed the money to live, but everyone thought that the money would make their lives better. This theme is very real and important. Many people today have the same opinion about money.

There is a lot of blood and deaths in this movie. Therefore there are many special effects. The effects were necessary for the scene with the elevator, the fight between Emilio and Julia, the scene when Julia jump from her fall to the floor above, and the scene of the roof. I liked the photography of this movie. It was very easy to watch.

I would recommend this film to my friends. I think that it was a very good and interesting film. The theme is an important lesson for everyone to learn.

This film goes into my modern classics category of darkly humorous movies. I can't believe it took me 22 years to discover the gem. The pacing is perfect, the production is beautifully done and the acting is superb to match. Not for the squeamish, I recommend Common Wealth to anybody who likes films by the Coen Brothers or Quentin Tarantino. In the wrong hands, plots of this nature can easily devolve into boring and predictable escapades that lack the ability to keep the viewer engaged. But Common Wealth has a beautiful arc and culminates in a climax Hitchcock would be proud of. Some of the lines are so funny you'll end up laughing out loud. I think part of this is because contemporary comedies are so lame and bland in comparison in our woke culture. This movie was clearly done before comedy was skewered by the humorless and easily offended.

i love this film....Carmen Maura is gorgeous. A new excellent flick from the best director from spain...ALEX DE LA IGLESIA. This man made only GOOD stuff. Eviva Espagna !!!

ok i should admit i liked the first 10-15 minutes of the film. it seemed to have very much to tell.. but after it with the darth vader joke and all that stuff it started to stink. the jokes became cheaper and cheaper and i found myself trying to stop yawning. how can such a meaningless film be shown on a festival? i know that there are far more better spanish films than this one. so if this was your first spanish movie, dont ever get to think that the rest is like this!

The last movie I saw directed by Alex de la Iglesia was the disappointing 'Perdita Duranga', which had very little of the inspired invention and originality of his brilliant horror comedy classic 'The Day Of The Beast'. It always felt like a bit of a compromise to me - Iglesia takes on Hollywood and loses. 'Common Wealth' sees the director back in Spain, and back in complete control, and what we end up with is a first rate thriller cum black comedy. Almodovar regular Carmen Maura leads a great ensemble cast in this hugely enjoyable movie. In some ways reminiscent of other "unexpected windfall" movies like 'Shallow Grave' and 'A Simple Plan', Iglesias then takes the basic plot premise in new, unforeseen directions. The viewer is left constantly surprised, and the film is engrossing right until the very end. Highly recommended!

Until earlier today at the USA premier of this movie @ the 'Palm Springs International Film Festival' I had never heard of the director's works before in my life.

It would seem he's somewhat of a Spanish Quentin Tarantino...which is a good thing. I highly recommend this movie if you can find it (not sure how far it may go in the U.S.).

I myself plan to at least -try- and track down some of his other works as I've gathered they're all excellent dark comedies.