jotix100 June 24th, in Spain, the feast of Saint John, is the equivalent of our own Halloween feast. This film directed by Jose Miguel Juarez, employs a narrative so complicated, it will disorient a lot of viewers. In fact, most of the first half of the movie doesn't make much sense. It is at this point in the picture where the pieces of the puzzle, which had been presented in unconnected vignettes, begins to make sense because one is taken in flashbacks to see what really was going on.At the center of the story is Miguel, a wealthy man, who twenty years before was responsible for staging a horrible car bomb incident that took the life of his worst enemy. Miguel takes Angel, the surviving son, under his guidance. Twenty years later, both are involved in illegal activities that have made the older man wealthy, but now is confined to a wheel chair.Serafin, the goofy messenger, plays a key role in this story because he is pitted, without his knowledge, against all the people that are trying to kill one another, without he ever suspecting anything. He is told by an older woman that today is his lucky day. Everything he touches turn to gold. Serafin, it turns out, is indeed a lucky man when everything is said and done.The film has some good moments. Director Jose Miguel Juarez shows he can do this type of comedy of errors. Best thing in the film is Antonio Hortelano, who plays Serafin with great charm. Jose Sancho, Manuela Arcuri, Alberto San Juan, Pilar Bardem appear in the film.The movie is mildly funny and it will not bore.

talltale-1 The IMDb listing for "Cosa de Brujas" offers up so many different genres that you'll probably think: Impossible. Or stupid. Well, it's possible and supremely intelligent. This amazing little movie manages to be funny, exciting, surprising, scary, and most of all a wonderful puzzle in which many of the pieces seem to be missing and then, suddenly, you realize that most of them are right there in front of you. By the end, every last one has moved perfectly into place. I have to admit I knew almost nothing about the film going into it. (If only we could have this experience with ALL films, we'd discover the surprise inherent in a good movie and wake up to what we really enjoy. We also might start thinking for ourselves, rather than parroting the critics.) If you don't stay alert, "Cosa de Brujas" can be confusing; my friend gave up on it a half an hour in. It appears to be moving in a linear fashion, but somewhere along the line you'll realize it's not, and that's when the fun (and the need to stay alert) really kicks in. In order not to spoil that fun, I won't say anything more except to comment on some performances: Manuela Arcuri is luscious as the femme fatale, a knock-out combo of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Diane Lane, and Antonio Hortelano as the messenger is so goofy, sweet and real that, even if this kind of shambling is his only "shtick," it's an absolute delight to see here. I thought of "Nadie Conoce a Nadie" while watching this movie, but it's nowhere as dependent on computers and paranoia and is much lighter on its feet--though every bit as much of a brainteaser. I suspect "Cosa de Brujas" was not a big hit in its home country of Spain (otherwise we'd have heard more about it). It's too intelligent and puzzling to be mainstream, even though its coupling of thriller-supernatural-comedy-romance certainly is. But I hope adventurous movie-lovers will take a chance. If so, they'll end this film with a big grin on their face.

jogrant The film takes on different styles as it progresses, revealing bits of a puzzle piece by piece. Not quite a RASHOMON, but as the protagonism changes and the viewer sees each characters' perspective s/he slowly fits together the role that the witches play and the complex relationships that tie all of the characters together. The suspense created lasts through to the end and is highlighted by the comic relief that the messenger's character provides.In my opinion this is better than ABRE LOS OJOS because it has a stronger plot and does not rely on Twilight Zone type cliches.

zufre This is a movie where the story is shown once and again from the point of view of different characters that have a part on it.I ended up somewhat tired of this continuous going back. It seems that the director wants to show off how intelligent he is. However, the end is predictable and many of the details revealed by the successive versions of the story come as no surprise.The movie is not that bad, nothing to write home about though...