The Witch Affair
The Witch Affair
| 17 January 2003 (USA)
The Witch Affair Trailers

The night of San Juan, Miguel murders his associate. Two elderly people are witness to the crime and predict that all of his dreams will come true thereafter. He will know the price he has to pay when he sees a black cat with a moon shaped mark on its forehead. Twenty-two years later a messenger begins to see all his dreams come true...

Reviews
ma-cortes

Passable thriller with plenty of twists and turns ; being confusingly developed . Mystery , intrigue about bizarre facts happen various characters interrelated each other by dark forces . The night of San Juan, a Spanish Halloween day , Miguel Gironza (Jose Sancho) kills his associate. Two elderly people (Pilar Bardem , Saturnino Garcia) are witness to the killing and predict that all of his dreams will come true thereafter . Gironza will know the price he has to pay when he watches a black cat with a moon shaped mark on its forehead . Many years later a delivery boy named Serafin (Antonio Hortelano) carries a message and then Gironza begins to see all his dreams come true . Then the unfortunate messenger with respiratory and cardiac problems, has an accident with his bike . Amid the chaos, he finds a basket inside which there is a black cat with a white spot on the forehead . In the basket is an address , which happens to be the home of two elderly persons.The film contains tension , thriller , mysterous events , plot twists and , adding decent action set pieces with tense sequences especially in its final part in a unexpected denouement , near of the end . Fantasy thriller filled with surprises and flashbacks and being regularly realized . The original as well as fantastic idea about witchery is overspread throughout the movie , but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls . The main cast is frankly fine , the recently deceased Jose Sancho , Alberto San Juan , a gorgeous Italian diva called Manuel Arcuri . However , the first starring , Antonio Hortelano , is mediocre and overacting , including excessive gesticulation and he holds silly faces . The support cast is pretty good such as Jorge Sanz , Saturnino Garcia , Manuel Manquiña , Aitor Mazo , Blanca Marsillach and Pilar Bardem , Javier Bardem's mother .Colorful and brilliant cinematography , filmed on location in Somosaguas , Torres Alameda , Madrid and final scenes in Punta Cana , Dominican Republican . Suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Mario de Benito , a good musician expert on sinister and mysterious atmospheres as proved in ¨Caja 507¨, ¨Rigor Mortis¨ , ¨Al Limite¨, ¨A Ciegas¨ , among others . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Jose Miguel Juarez , a nice writer/producer/filmmaker . This is his third picture , he had previously directed a comedy titled ¨Di Laura Que la Quiero¨, and a historical film , ¨Hijos Del Viento¨ , starred by Bud Spencer .

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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.

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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.

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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...

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