Daniel Calparsoro (review)

This book is the first full-length study of the work of Daniel Calparsoro, one of the most important filmmakers in contemporary Spain. This is a comprehensive, well researched and theoretically sophisticated book which will immediately become essential reading for anyone interested in Calparsoro's films. Davis's objective is to analyse the filmmaker's work in auteurist terms, presenting a coherent dialogue between auteurism and the Spanish film industry, and capturing what is truly original about this controversial filmmaker, whose work is difficult to classify. Most existing academic criticism centres on Calparsoro's first feature-length film, Salto al vacío, but one of the main accomplishments of this book is the attention that Davis pays to Calparsoro's entire oeuvre to date, focusing on issues such as female subjectivity, the portrayal of terrorism, urban contexts and tensions in personal relationships, and the function of soundtracks and genre.

While the section devoted to Najwa Nimri and the interaction between director and star may not be as enlightening as the rest of the book, it will doubtless be of considerable interest to readers wishing to explore the influence of Nimri as a muse or the author's exploration of emotion and women. More interesting is Davis's insertion of the director's first three films within the tradition of melodrama, although a deeper critical inquiry into this genre would have been an asset, given the wealth of theoretical attention devoted to melodrama in film studies. That said, however, Davis's detailed and astute reading of Calparsoro's films in the context of both Basque and Spanish cinema is a major accomplishment and this book deserves to be placed among the most important academic works on contemporary Spanish film. The author does not hesitate to illustrate how certain critical frameworks have been unhelpfully applied to Calparsoro's work, such as the use of violence as simply reflective of Hollywood practice, or the overly narrow conceptualization of Basque cinema.

The conclusions drawn are most convincing, particularly the author's classification of Calparsoro as an auteur who consistently provides a coherent, bleak world view, in common with many other directors' works about marginalized young people and the underbelly of society. Even more persuasive are her conclusions regarding Calparsoro's constant focus on women as subjects of the narrative rather than objects of desire, and her identification of the defining traits of this director's films, such as the presence of characters at odds with their environment, intermittent episodes of visually powerful violence, and his move from cine social to genre film. Equally pertinent is Davis's lucid questioning of previous conceptualizations of Basque film which prove too narrow for this filmmaker, and her observation that Calparsoro's films depict Basque realities that surpass limited and/or nationalistic horizons and are less welcome than the 'preferred rural arcadias' (185).

In sum, this is an important publication, which combines a solid grasp of previous academic research on Daniel Calparsoro with a close and convincing reading of his entire output, and does not shy away from critical revision where it is needed. This accessible and engaging book includes a very useful Filmography and extensive synopses of the director's complete works, and will provide both the general and academic reader with a very clear picture of Calparsoro's work.