La Comunidad

Ooooh yeah, a new flick from the great Alex De La Iglesia - the guy who brought us such genre delights as 'Accion Mutante' amd 'Day of the Beast'. would his latest offering bring such joys, let's see...

'La Comunidad' (or 'Common Wealth') is a bizarre black comedy that follows an estate agent temp (played by Carmen Maura) as she tries to rent out an apartment in a dilapidated tenement block in the heart of Madrid. Whilst viewing the flat she uncovers in the apartment above the festering dead body of a reclusive tenant and soon becomes embroiled in a crazy scenario that has her up against the entire inhabitants of the apartment block in this highly entertaining romp.

While newcomers to Iglesia's work may find that this film will not be entirely to their liking as a starting point, folk familiar to his work will find this a highly satisfying viewing treat. Perhaps his most mainstream work to date (and his least subversive), 'La Comunidad' is still a delightful slice of Euro genre entertainment. As ever, Iglesia's direction is of its usual high standard with a breathtaking (and showstopping) finale that will have afficianados of quality cinema thrilled with his gorgeous take on the old 'It's a Mad Mad...World' set piece by way of classic Hitchcock. His careful casting comes up trumps also with each of the apartment blocks characters whilst being very different in character are all strongly portrayed. One of the key characters uses the hilarous alter ego of Darth Vader to hilarious effect bringing many moments of big hearty chuckles that surely even will bring a smile to the cold hearted George Lucas (either that or a lawsuit!)

Wickedly funny and full of cinematic class, 'La Comunidad' is a great light hearted diversion to the po-faced horror that we're all drowning in these days. The disc from Manga Films in Spain is quite a nice package also, if you're Spanish that is! Coming to us in a tasty two disc set, whilst the first disc comes with a pristine anarmorphic widescreen print complete with very welcome English subtitles - the second bonus 'extras' disc is in Spanish throughout. So, unless your Castellano is any good you'll be missing out on a whole bunch of fun extras (which is a bit of a shame when you look at how German DVD prodicers are pampering the English speaking market!) But if you are coherent in the Spanish language you'll find a host of nice stuff on the making of the movie that should keep fans of Iglesia's work more than content.

That said though, the disc can be found at a very reasonable price from Spanish retailers so if you can't follow the bonus material you're not missing out as the film itself more than compensates for things nicely. An entertaining slice of Euro fun that you'll be able to watch with your mainstream freinds and a well presented disc to boot. Now if only Manga Films would release the rest of Iglesia's back catalogue?