There is a little known genre of films that came out of Spain in the 70s and 80s called the quinqui genre or juvenile gang films. These movies portrayed a violent group of drug riddled youth that were prone to killing without feeling. The films drew in audiences but never translated well to other parts of the world.
Among the most famous directors to associate with this genre was Eloy de Iglesia. Known for his works in various other genres, he made three films considered masterpieces of the quinqui films. Severin has gone out of their way to find these films and offer them to the viewing public in pristine condition. Any time a foreign film can find its way to the US market in such great condition should be celebrated.
The first film in this collection of Iglesia’s films is NAVAJEROS or KNIVES. The film follows the life of José Manuel Gomez Perales also known as El Jaro (Jose Luis Manzano). Only 15 years old El Jaro has broken out of prison 39 times in his short life and is well known as becoming a career criminal. He spends his time with 3 close friends as they steal anything from coins in payphones to items in store windows. Living on the streets El Jaro ends up staying with a prostitute older than him named Mercedes (Isela Vega). The two have a romance going but El Jaro falls for his friend’s sister. But tragedy awaits all involved in the life of El Jaro.
Next up is EL PICO. Once again starring Jose Luis Manzano this time he portrays Paco, the son of Evaristo Torrecuadrada (José Manuel Cervino), a Civil Guard commander. Paco’s best friend is Urko (Javier García), the son of Martín Aramendia (Luis Iriondo), a leftist politician who stands against the Civil Guard. The two boys spend their time with a prostitute friend named Betty (Lali Espinet) and through her become drug addicts. To help them pay for their drugs she sends them to El Cojo the dealer she gets her drugs from. Eventually they clean themselves up but one last visit to Betty and they find themselves hooked once more. Now their crimes increase to support their habit and soon it will have grave consequences for one of the two friends.
The third film in the set is EL PICO 2, made due to the huge success of the first film. The story picks up with Paco and his father moving to Madrid with his father’s mother in hopes of finding help for Paco as well as a fresh start with his father. Paco’s past follows him though and he is arrested for things that took place in the first film (to mention these would be a huge spoiler). Once more a life of crime seems the only outlook for Paco and eventually father and son must come to a reckoning.
For many these films will be confusing at best and terrible at worst. But like many films you have to place yourself not just in the time period but the location of the film. These films were made in Spain as it was transitioning into democracy. Juvenile crime and drug use was increasing at the time. And director Iglesia was also dealing with being a homosexual in a predominantly Catholic country where it was frowned upon. All of these things are stirred into the melting pot of his films.
Iglesia chose to make his films about the underclass, the poor and their methods of dealing with the life that had been dealt to them. Rather than clean it up and make it pretty he showed the bad side of things as well as the side effects of choosing this lifestyle. But he did so not in an overbearing shameful method, instead doing nothing more than showing things as they were. These films were not the “after school special” style movies that showed clean cut kids falling into drug addiction and then living happy lives after cleaning up in the last 10 minutes. These films depicted a reality of addiction that showed it wasn’t easy to get clean and it led to criminal activity to pay for your next fix. It’s ugly and intentionally so.
Severin has done a fantastic job of bringing these films to be seen once more. They’ve started with scanning all three in HD from the original negatives making them look better than ever. Placing them in this box set they’ve included a number of extras as well. These include “Jose Sacristan on Eloy de la Iglesia” an interview with actor Jose Sacristan, “Blood in the Streets: The Quinqui Film Phenomenon: An interview with quinqui historians Mery Cuesta and Tom Whittaker, “Queerness, Crime and the Basque Conflict in the Quinqui Films of Eloy de la Iglesia” a panel with scholars Alejandro Melero and Paul Julian Smith moderated by Evan Purchell of Ask Any Buddy and trailers for all three films.
As I said early on these films may not be for
everyone. But for fans of the genre, of world cinema and those willing to learn
more about the rest of the world on film this is an interesting item that you
will enjoy.
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