My friend Nacho Vigalondo made a great movie, and I want you to go see it!
Nacho is a Spanish film director whom I’ve known for a while. I still remember going to a Blockbuster video to rent his first film, Timecrimes (Cronocrimines). The twenty-something guy at the counter practically had an orgasm right on the spot. Oh my god Nacho Vigalondo is amazing I love this film he is so awesome. Then he led me directly to the exact spot on the shelf out of 127 million zillion DVD cases.
I loved it too. It’s smart and unexpected and philosophical, and I think Nacho probably made it for $500 and free beer for the crew, which I admire extremely.
Now Nacho’s second feature Extraterrestrial (Extraterrestre) is out in the world, and more to the point, about to go into limited release in the US. It will open in theatres in selected cities, and you can also arrange your own screening in your city through the wonders of Tugg.com (an utterly cool wave-of-the-future distribution method, here’s more about how it works).
I’ve seen Extraterrestrial twice, most recently when Nacho brought it to the Seattle International Film Festival. It’s a lovely, smart, funny and sad film. A romantic comedy with yearning at its heart. An alien invasion film that keeps the aliens offstage… or maybe not. Because like all good alien invasion films, Extraterrestrial is really about being human.
Plenty of other folks have said nice things about Extraterrestrial: IndieWire and Slant Magazine are among the many who show the love, and Salon.com leads with it in their Summer Alt-Movie Guide.
Get Nacho’s take on the film in this interview in the Miami New Times.
And here’s one of my favorite scenes — so much going on in the silences…
My friend Nacho made a movie! Go see it, go on. Have fun. Laugh a lot. Recognize yourself in the characters, who are so dear, so scared, so annoying, so brave. So human.
Enjoy your day.