Tower Theater. June 9, 2012. 6:45 p.m.
The wide-eyed wonder of Extraterrestrial is not the four-mile-wide spaceship hovering over Madrid – it’s in the giddy, hilarious reactions of four Spaniards trapped below it.
It’s “the morning after” for a groggy Julia (Michelle Jenner) as she tries to shake off the cobwebs. Giving her a fright, a strange man (Julián Villagrán), wanders out of her bedroom in his underwear. Neither Julio (as he calls himself) or Julia can remember meeting, or anything that happened the night before… but by the rumpled sheets and discarded clothes, it’s clear something did. Still in shock, they suddenly become aware of an eerie, unnatural stillness around them. Peering out the window, they see a massive UFO hovering overhead, and the streets deserted.
As if this wasn’t enough to contend with, in bursts Ángel, Julia’s creepy, overweight neighbor, harboring all kinds of overwrought doomsday prophecies. Hot on his farcical heels, the burly Carlos, Julia’s boyfriend, shows up to rescue her. Desperate to conceal evidence of their conjugal tryst, Julia and Julio go to wild extremes to convince Carlos that Ángel is not really Ángel, but an alien replica. The UFO, meanwhile, maintains its stoic stillness.
There’s a twist-a-minute in this snappy genre mash-up from Nacho Vigalondo! Director Nacho Vigalondo, born on the north coast of Spain in 1977, received an Academy Award nomination as writer of Best Live Action Short in 2003 for 7:35 in the morning (7:35 de la mañana). His first feature film was Timecrimes (Los cronocrímenes) in 2007, which is currently in development for an American remake by Oscar-winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian for Dreamworks. Extraterrestrial is Vigalondo’s second feature film.
Nacho Vigalondo is expected to attend for intro and Q&A following the screening.
Tower Theater
1508 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33135
305.642.1264
www.mdc.edu/tower
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