Sometimes, you just need something to believe in.Set in 1972 during the waning years of Francisco Franco's dictatorship, Platillos volantes captures the social inertia and futureless existence of the industrial Catalonian town of Tarrasa. It shows the deadened stares of a society drained of life after 30 years of oppression, and the anxious rumblings of communists and capitalists alike ready to lurch forward into an uncertain future.In this context, the lanky, social outcast Juan (Ángel de Andrés López) and the jaded, middle-aged José (Jordi Vilches) have nothing much to look forward to except the possibility of stepping off of this miserable planet into something greater, something better, something more. 'Flying saucers' indeed may be our only hope.Platillos volantes is the kind of film that sneaks up on you: It seems so insubstantial and light, but by the end you are clutching your chair, gasping for breath, and wiping tears from your eyes because those aren't characters up there on the screen.It's you."Los extraterrestres nos llaman, pertenecemos al infinito."

First, I should point out this is definitely not a movie for the kids. There's way too much nudity and the content of the movie is just too grim and adult.The story is about two losers who just don't fit in this world. Jose convinces Juan that he has been receiving messages from aliens and the young guy believes it implicitly. Their mission is to contact various governments to let them know that the aliens are coming for a summit meeting in Spain. When the time for the meeting comes and goes and no aliens show (or world government leaders for that matter), they come to believe that the only way to make contact with the aliens is to shed their Earthly bodies (i.e., kill themselves). So, in the end, that is exactly what they do--by laying with their heads on the railroad tracks. Apparently this was based on a real story, though I have my doubts.Despite the weirdness of the description I have given, this does not really appear to be a comedy or even a drama--just a strange recounting of the lives of two bizarre and screwy men. From a psychological point of view, it is a wonderful example of a man with Schizophrenia and his younger friend with Shared Psychotic Disorder (a pretty rare diagnosis--it's when a person becomes absorbed up into the delusions and fantasies of another until they, too, show evidence of insanity). The film wouldn't be bad to show a college psychology class. But would the average person who is not particularly interested in psychology and Schizophrenia be interested in the film? Maybe, though the film's deadpan and somewhat slow pace along with the bizarre theme guarantee this film is not for the average person. Most would likely just turn it off after a few minutes. No, to stick with it, you probably have to have a strong appreciation of the odd and counter-culture cinema. On this level, the film does work, though I found myself only mildly interested (and I teach psychology).A truly bizarre film for mostly bizarre audiences. The very end of the picture is worth seeing alone--I won't say more, because it might spoil it for you--you weird, twisted freak!

I borrowed this from Netflix, while browsing the foreign films section. It listed it as being based on a famous case in Brazil where 2 UFO contactees (people who think aliens have contacted and talked to them) were found dead wearing lead masks. Which I had read about, and was intrigued it got turned into a movie.Alas, Netflix kind of got it wrong. It's only very loosed based on that (mostly in that there were 2 people involved), it's actually perhaps more derived from the UMMO case, which was mostly in Spain. Basically people got mysterious notes and such purporting to be from aliens, along with technical info on UFOs and some supposedly advanced technological devices.Anyway, the movie deals with two men. One is a young man who seemingly has a decent life. Decent job, attractive girlfriend, friends. But he has a thing for UFOs. And he suffers from some other personal problems. While his girlfriend is hot, she's also a tease, and he is preyed upon by a middle aged fat women who is after his body. He doesn't like it, but nevertheless, after being led on but then rejected by his GF, has to slake his lust with her.He meets another UFO buff, who also has a pretty good life. Solid job as a machinist (or something in a factory), but something of an idealist and an outcast. They bond, and they go to a couple of UFO events. Then they run into trouble, and well, any more and I would give away the ending. But it's both unexpected and not.Kind of a long movie, but it really does do a great job of portraying what the whole UFO contactee scene is like (Even though it's set in 70s Spain, it's little different than the contactee scene in the US). There's lots of little nice touches in the film. For instance, lights flickering mysteriously in some scenes. And while it's very much fiction, it's also very much based on what actual contactees are like. If you've read Jaques Vallee's Confrontions/Dimensions/Revelations trilogy, you will see it conforms exactly to his observations of them (which also tally with my personal experiences of them).The acting is excellent, the actors really bring their characters to life, even the ones with small roles, as is the cinematography (unfortunately, the DVD I got was the Full Frame version, but the movie really looked nice). It's not a comedy, but there are a few amusing bits.I'm not sure most people will like it, but if you are familiar with Jacques Vallee's work, it's almost a must see. People who like personal dramas will also probably like it. There's no action or suspense, really, and the supernatural aspects are more puzzling than anything else.

Jose and Juan are two freaks that love UFOs, day by day, this love will became an obsession and the will think that they are really talking with theme. this will cause fear from their neighbours, as they don't understand these freaks. The movie is based on real facts: On 1972 two men committed suicide in Terrassa (a little industrial city of Spain), their note said: We belong to infinite. The movie is, maybe quite absurd, but is quite well done and it results funny; the gags are not stupid and the actors result as much pathetic as they want to be, not more, not less. It is short, so you have no time to be fed up of the film. The ending is unusual and unexpected, of course, very absurd. It is a movie for a Sunday afternoon when there's nothing more to do, but it is not bad.