‘Recent Spanish Cinema’ Broadens Its Bill

The American Cinematheque’s “Recent Spanish Cinema,” an annual offering since 1994, expands to eight nights this year, running Thursday through March 7 at the Directors Guild, 7920 Sunset Blvd.

Composed of 16 films, including a six-feature Manuel Gutierrez Aragon tribute, this popular event opens Thursday at 7 p.m. with Aragon’s newest, “The King of the River,” a traditional family drama that is not among either Aragon’s or the festival’s strongest offerings.

It’s a tempestuous coming-of-age tale of two brothers (they’re actually cousins; don’t ask)--one steady and decent (Achero Manas), the other handsome and devious (Gustavo Salmeron)--whose parents (Alfredo Landa, Carmen Maura) are landed rural gentry. Aragon tells his story lovingly, weaving in symbolism and a touch of mysticism, but it’s hard to care for the characters as much as he does because they’re simply not all that interesting.

Although a little dragged-out toward the finish, Alex de la Iglesia’s “The Day of the Beast” (Friday at 9:30 p.m.) is in the glorious Spanish tradition of outrageous dark satire. Alex Angulo stars as a priest, a professor of theology who after studying the Apocalypse of St. John concludes that, only a day or two before Christmas, the antichrist will be born on Christmas.

What to do but to sell his soul to Satan with the hope of having the chance to slay the antichrist? The professor’s lively adventures involve him with a paunchy, grungy heavy-metal fan (Santiago Segura) and a slick TV parapsychologist (Armando de Razza).

Friday (at 7 p.m.) brings one of the festival’s strongest offerings, Agustin Diaz Yanes’ “Nobody Will Speak of Us When We’re Dead,” which is sensational in all senses of the word and boasts a powerhouse dramatic performance by Victoria Abril that is the perfect contrast to her comedy turn in the current “French Twist.”

Abril plays the wife of a matador who became an alcoholic and fled Madrid for Mexico City, where she has become a prostitute. Three years earlier her husband had been gored and has been comatose ever since, cared for by his strong, loving mother (Pilar Bardem).

Abril’s character has the misfortune to be present when a major drug deal goes sour and winds up deported, possessing a notebook that is the key to a fortune in laundered money. A veteran gangster (Federico Luppi), who’s losing a taste for the game as his daughter faces crucial surgery, is ordered to get it back.

The heart of the matter is a vivid, beautifully drawn portrait of a young woman of no education and little skill trying to get her life together against tremendous odds but with the support of her remarkable mother-in-law. “Nobody” moves way beyond its crackling thriller plot to become a tale of love and sacrifice.

“Jump Into the Void” (Saturday at 6:15 p.m.) is another knockout, a raw, nervy account of a crucial day and a half in the bleak, exceedingly dangerous life of a 20-year-old woman (Najwa Nimry) in the seedy edges of a big northern city, where she supports her defeated family as a member of a gang dealing in drugs and illegal weapons. Far more intelligent than anyone around her, she craves a way out--and also the most decent guy in the gang (Roberto Chalu).

However, with her punk look--she has “VOID” shaved into the cropped hair on the back of her head--she’s thought of as just one of the boys. It’s an explosive feature debut for writer-director Daniel Calparsaro and also for Basque actress-singer Nimry.

For full schedule: (213) 466-FILM.

Personal Recollection: Saturday and Sunday at noon at the Nuart, Filmforum presents Jennifer Montgomery’s curiously titled, autobiographical “Art for Teachers of Children,” in which a young woman (Caitlin Grace McDonnell) recalls her seduction at 14 by her married boarding-school dorm counselor, who also frequently photographed her in the nude.

Montgomery’s deadpan, affectless style sets off the shallowness and total lack of responsibility of the counselor (played by boyish Duncan Hannah); although she feels her age of consent had been violated she does not regard the counselor’s photos as pornographic or obscene.

Information: (310) 478-6379.