REVIEW: SESIÓN SALVAJE NEW DOC ON GOLDEN AGE SPANISH B-FLICKS
by Elena Anele (*)
SESIÓN SALVAJE aka Wild Session is Spanish documentary on Spanish B and pop films that were so popular in the 70s and 80s. It is directed by Paco Limón and Julio Cesar Sánchez, based on their own screenplay with Daniel Luis López. Behind production there some familiar names such as FlixOle or Apache Films. The film is now on tour at fests and award selections and it will be soon premiered at theaters in Spain.
In this flick there are many familiar faces for the Spanish Horror aficionado, we have Eugenio Martín, Nacho Vigalondo, Alex de la Iglesia and many other directors; producers as for example Enrique Lavigne; actors as Simon Andreu, Antonio Mayans, Lone Fleming and others telling us about the different billboards in those years, the stories behind, the differences between our productions and the Hollywood ones, the different waves, the audiences, the tricks they had and so on.
What I liked the most is the walk on the several genres: Golden Age on Spanish Horror, Spaghetti Western, Quinqui Movies – loving the apart on Eloy de la Iglesia-, and the crazy 80s.
What I didn’t enjoy so much is the lack of opinions from women who are not actresses, no female critics, producers or cinematographers – who were many in those times and also nowadays- and the lack of negative opinions from some females as Mirta Miller who in several interviews (1) refers to softcore years – what it is called destape or nudies– as a nightmare, feeling sick before shooting and even puking and she was not the only one suffering from that situations, here we only have the thoughts of 3 actresses – marvelous ones- who told us everything was a wild party where everybody was having fun.
Also, this is another work blaming Miró law on the lack of interest of spectators in Spanish popular productions. Only Vigalondo is aware of viewer’s change of taste and he compares it to the Italian scene, where there was not Pilar Miró or similar. She may have complained about Mariano Ozores success, but I do not think a woman’s rage would be capable of destroying all cinema production from a country especially if that was what the public wanted to see and pay for. In this aspect, Sesión Salvaje has a lot in common with Queridos Monstruos, directed in 2015 by Kiko and Javier Prada, but in this last case they other issues to take into consideration are mentioned and studied.
Generally speaking, Sesión Salvaje is a good source for those interested in knowing some on B-flicks made in Spain, but I miss some info on the life inside the theater as double features and so on. On the other hand, the selection of images from movies to illustrate the stories is amazing and knowing some anecdotes first hand it is a pleasure.
On December 13 it is said to be on big screens in Spain and I think it will be soon available on VOD platforms and some festivals around the world.
I hope to interview directors soon and get some extra information on screening, distribution and the strengths and drawbacks I mentioned before.
NOTES:
(1) Buque maldito fanzine issue #23 and Extra contents on Count Dracula Great Love US edition BluRay
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Elena Anele is the woman in charge of SPANISHFEAR.COM, Horror Rises from Spain / El podcast surge de la tumba and Un Fan de Paul Naschy . A literature and cinema researcher, finishing her postgraduate studies with a thesis about the mystic filmmaker José Val del Omar. She has published in different media and books as Fangoria or Hidden Horror. She has also been in charge of several translations including Javier Trujillo’s complete works, La Mano Film Fest, The Man who Saw Frankenstein Cry and many more.
