New teaser for Las Pelotaris 1926! 🏓

the girls back together again ❤️ (madrid, summer ‘23)

CLAUDIA SALAS via Instagram

Another teaser @isadomna

CLAUDIA SALAS, MINA EL HAMMANI, & DANNA PAOLA via Georgina Amorós' Instagram Stories

elitenetflix via TikTok

ÉLITE (2018–2024): Trashy, high-gloss Spanish soap opera about students at posh private high school Las Encinas, initially a mix of rich brats and social-climbing scholarship students, whose conflicts result in murders, near-fatalities, and mysterious disappearances: Each of the first five seasons is framed by a police investigation of the latest casualty, a gimmick that really only works in the first season (where it provides a degree of narrative structure and gravitas that would otherwise be lacking).

Even in its best moments, the show's relationship to reality is never strong, and it's sometimes rather witlessly hypocritical (for instance, the narrative is capable of recognizing the injustice of the school forcing Palestinian scholarship student Nadia (Mina El Hammani) to remove her hijab in class, but not enough to not indulge in its own array of islamophobic cliches in its depiction of Nadia's conservative working-class family). Nonetheless, the show gets by for a surprisingly long time on the strength of its cast and direction, buoyed by a welcome refusal to descend into self-mockery even when the plot leaves the rails. None of the male characters is especially endearing, with Itzan Escamilla (as scholarship student Samuel) becoming particularly insufferable and Miguel Bernardeau (more recently the lead on the disappointing 2024 ZORRO show) a little too convincing as rich dickhead Guzmán, but the girls are consistently more interesting, with Mina El Hammani (as Nadia), Ester Expósito (as morally compromised aristocratic rich bitch Carla), and Claudia Salas (as the salty Rebeka, whose mother is a drug dealer, and who ends up one of the show's most genuinely sympathetic characters) making the strongest impressions.

It's not until the sixth season, with all the original cast gone (several of them feet-first), that ÉLITE starts to feel like it's overstayed its welcome, with some flailing attempts to examine serious themes like abusive relationships tripping over the increasingly orgiastic celebration of wealth and privilege (any interest in characters who aren't filthy rich having departed with the last stragglers from the original cast). Although more visually stylish, it feels like it's become a different, much weaker show, and the writers seem to no longer grasp the distinction between "entertainingly messy bitches" and "grating assholes who are no fun to watch"; by the seventh season, there isn't a single character interesting or sympathetic enough to sustain the plot's frequent lurid detours into cloud cuckoo land. (It does at least have the decency to throw one of its most hateful recurring characters off a roof at the end, which I appreciated.)

The forthcoming eighth season will be the last, but Season 7 was already at least two too many, IME. CONTAINS LESBIANS? One of the boys from the early seasons has two moms, but while there are a surprising number of acknowledged mmf and mmm triads, it's not until the fourth season that there are really any wlw relationships among the principal characters, and they always remain distinctly secondary to the boys. VERDICT: More enjoyable than it has any right to be, at least for a while, but its watchability begins a marked decline after the fourth season, and the sixth and seventh seasons are no longer much fun even as trash TV.

dannapaola; ester_exposito; minaelhammani; valentinazenere; claudiasalas_; georginaamoros & _martinacariddi_ on instagram;

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REBEKA DE BORMUJO

Elite Guzman Caye Rebe Short Story Part 1

[220511] elitenetflix via instagram

this is elite

Ellas no solo luchan contra sus oponentes, sino con lo que significa ser mujer… “Las Pelotaris 1926”

La historia sigue a Chelo, Idoia e Itzi, tres jugadoras de pelota vasca que luchan por alcanzar sus sueños en los años 20 del siglo pasado.

Las exitosas deportistas profesionales tendrán que asumir las consecuencias de romper moldes en un mundo donde la ambición y la libertad estaban negadas para el género femenino.

Las tres deportistas pagarán un alto precio por hacer todo aquello que se suponía no debían hacer: triunfar, ganar su propio dinero, revelarse frente al maltrato o vivir en libertad su sexualidad.

Estreno: 10 de marzo de 2023 en ViX.

La serie cuenta con las actuaciones de Zuria Vega, Claudia Salas, María de Nati, David Chocarro, Marco de la O, Vicente Tamayo, Héctor Kotsifakis, Antonio Gaona, Viviana Serna, Alex Onieva, Krista Aroca, Eva Rubio, Jesús Castejón, Peter Vives y Eligio Menéndez.

Cerdita (Piggy)

Movies watched in 2023

Cerdita (Piggy) (2022, Spain)

Director & Writer: Carlota Pereda

Mini-review:

I loved this way more than I thought I would. The representation probably isn't perfect, but it portrays fatphobia in a really harsh and unflinching light. Some people might find it too much, but I think Carlota Pereda made the right choice, showing how bullying and abuse can affect a person's psyche. Oh, and it was a fantastic move to show that fatphobia can happen at home as much as it happens outside. While there are strong doses of dark humor here and there, the movie is a pretty hard watch at times, so be warned.

All that being said, the movie's true power rests entirely on Laura Galán's bravura performance. She perfectly conveys her character's anxiety, confusion and terror. I couldn't help but relate to her, even as her situation escalates into something pretty crazy. Also, Carmen Machi's acting is as excellent as always, but I already expected that. Finally, I wanted to mention the cinematography and the sound design. The movie flawlessly captures the vibes of summer life in a small, rural-ish Spanish town, from the light to the background noises. So yeah, I will definitely keep an eye out for Pereda and Galán's future work.

GEORGINA AMORÓS, DANNA PAOLA, CLAUDIA SALAS, & MINA EL HAMMANI via Instagram Stories