12 Best Spanish films on Netflix

It's cloudy and raining outside right now. Today is the perfect day to read, listen to music, cook something new and watch movies! If you think like me and are looking for the best spanish movies on Netflix, grab your hot tea or coffee, get under the blanket and check out the list I've prepared for you (also, you can click here for my list of the 10 best Spanish series on Netflix!)

Small note before we start: These are the Spanish films available on Netflix Turkey. it may differ somewhat according to your country.

Comedy

1. Toc Toc

I think this is one of the best, the funniest and most original movies to watch in the whole world. I absolutely love it! When I first started watching this movie, I honestly didn't expect to see such a wonderful movie, but I soon became hooked and I must have watched it 3 or 4 times since then. You can tell I'm a big fan! To explain briefly... The name of the movie comes from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), or TOC (Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo) in Spanish. In this film, six people suffering from OCD, who were mistakenly given an appointment by a psychiatrist on the same day and time, come together in the doctor's waiting room by chance and start interacting with each other in their unique, individual and peculiar ways... They are a little crazy, but honestly, who isn't in this world? We are all a little like them, and as I was watching, I quickly empathised with the character who constantly washes her hands, for example :)) (and my husband agreed with that LOL) Laughs and fun are guaranteed and this is what we all need the most right now.

2. La Tribu (The Tribe)

What if a corrupt corporate boss loses his memory as a result of divine justice and starts everything from scratch, like tabula rasa? The movie deals with this situation from a fun point of view and it turns out to be a very enjoyable movie! I think what makes this movie particularly interesting and funny is Paco Leon in the lead role. It seems as if any movie starring this actor, who is dressed in disguise in all the movies I've watched, could never be bad. Aside from his performance in the movie, his dance in the closing credits after the movie is also legendary (and the song has become a hit in our household ever since!).

3. Ocho Apellidos Catalanes (Spanish Affair 2)

(*As the name suggests, this movie is actually a sequel to the first one. If you plan to watch the first one first, the following may contain spoilers!*)

To enjoy this movie more, you need to know a little about the regions in Spain and the stereotypes associated with those regions. How is an Andalusian different from a Basque or Catalan? Although these people all live in Spain, how different are their lifestyles, worldviews and appearances? If you are somewhat familiar with (or want to learn) these, you can watch this movie. The film begins with an Andalusian teenager learning that his Basque girlfriend, who he broke up with, is going to marry a Catalan, and he takes action to stop it and comedy ensues.

Unfortunately, the first of this movie is not on Netflix (at least in Turkey) and I can't understand why. That's why we watched the second one without watching the first one. But if you want, you can find the first one online and then, watch this one afterwards. If you're going to watch the second one only, it's okay because you already understand what's going on in the first movie as the movie progresses.

Comedy & Drama

4. Vivir Dos Veces (Live Twice, Love Once)

This movie is about a retired mathematics professor with Alzheimer's and his pursuit of his childhood love with the help of his family. This movie is funny, very sweet, and very sad. The film portrays these emotional transitions and family relationships very well… When we finished this movie, both my husband and I were crying our eyes out, but I'm glad we watched it as it was a very memorable and heart-warming movie.

Drama & Dark comedy

5. El Autor (The Motive)

Javier Muñoz plays the lead role in this movie as well as in Hogar, another movie I mention in the continuation of this article, and again, he plays a very unique character :) (I can't help but wonder if this actor always plays such characters). Imagine a man in an unhappy marriage with a routine and unsatisfying job. A man who was overwhelmed by the success and fame of his wife and realizes that he was cheated on by her. As a result, he becomes a man who has lost his job, home and wife, and all he has is the dream of becoming a writer, which he strives to achieve, no matter the cost. So what can this man dare to do to realize this dream, which is his only reason to live?

When our leading character cannot use his imagination for the novel he has wanted to write for years, he finds the solution to transform the people around him into fictional characters. Like a puppet master, he begins to play with the emotions, choices and destinies of those around him. The question is, can real life, which always unravels in the most unexpected ways, be more creative and interesting than fiction?

What makes this movie interesting to me is the protagonist's ability to manipulate people which pushes moral boundaries and leads to an ending that puts the author (and therefore us) on the wrong foot. Also, since the movie takes place in Seville, you breathe the (very hot) air of the place while watching the movie as well. Seville, which is located in the Andalusia region of Spain and is not located on a coastline, has an incredibly suffocating air in the summer months. While watching the movie, I wondered if the climate in which the characters lived and the extreme heat had an effect on how extraordinary and grotesque the characters were.

Drama

6. Handia (The Giant)

Set in a village in the Basque region of Spain in the early 1800s, the film starts with the sudden arrival of a soldier to a small village and the lives of two brothers (Martin and Joaquin) irreversably change. The soldier asks the brothers' father to send one of his sons to the army. He chooses Martin, who reluctantly joins the war. Returning home a few years later, Martin realizes that many things have changed, but most of all his brother, Joaquin. After Martin left the house, Joaquin began to grow in height, and although he reached the size of a giant, his growth did not end. Hoping to profit from this, Martin decides to make a fortune by taking Joaquin around Europe and displaying him to crowds.

The plot is interesting and I don't know if it's because it takes place in the Basque region or because the movie is in Basque, it has a different feel. The rivalry, heartbreak, affection and the bitter/sweet relationship between the two brothers, are portrayed very well throughout the film. Although the script is inspired by a true story, it has a fairy-tale-like narrative. By the way, the film received 10 of the Goya awards, which is considered as the Oscars of Spain. I enjoyed it, but I think that not everyone will like it because it is a long and slow-paced movie. Therefore, those who love art films or those who are curious about the Basque language and culture may enjoy watching it more.

Sci-fi & Thriller

7. Durante La Tormenta (Mirage)

If you like sci-fi genre and the theme of time travel, this movie is for you! In terms of its theme, this movie reminded me a bit of the legendary Back to the Future movies. I don't think it's as good as them, but I still enjoyed watching this movie. The film is about a woman who is married and has a daughter, and who, by chance, saves the life of a child who lived in the past, and as a result, her own life completely changes. Will the woman be able to return to her old life? Even if she manages to return to her time, will everything be the same as before? How will the lives of those around her be affected? It's a well thought out and detailed movie, but I think it's a bit inadequate in terms of putting it on a scientific basis. Still, it's definitely worth watching.

Crime & Thriller

8. Hogar (The Occupant)

It is currently one of the most watched movies on Netflix worldwide. At first, I wasn't very interested in the subject, but as I watched it, it surprised me. The film begins with the job search of a once-successful but now outdated advertiser. Since this man, who is married and has a child, has no income, he moves to a poorer neighborhood with his family, they fire the maid who does all their work, and his wife finds a job in a shop and starts working to lighten the burden of the house. This man, whose quality of life has changed drastically, cannot leave his old days and standard of living behind, and he resorts to unfamiliar ways to regain them.

When you read the story, it may not sound very interesting, but as you follow the plot and see the devilish intelligence of the main character, you will also be glued to the TV screen and won't be able to leave until the end.

9. Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest)

If you like crime movies and mind games, you will love this movie. A successful businessman was attacked in a hotel room with his girlfriend and passed out. When he wakes up, he finds his lover murdered and the police at his door. Having difficulty convincing the police that he is innocent because the murder took place while he was unconscious and all the doors and windows of the room were locked, the businessman finds the solution by asking a famous lawyer for help. This famous lawyer, on the other hand, examines not only this incident, but also the past of the businessman, and various scenarios begin to evolve.

Whatever the genre or plot of the movie, I like clever scripts. The reason why I like this movie is that various possible scenarios are plotted to reveal why and how the murder was committed, the characters are portrayed from different perspectives throughout the movie, and it puts the audience in the wrong corner with a clever ending.

10. La Trilogia de Baztan (The Baztan Triology)

This trilogy is one of the best movies I've ever seen. So much so that we watched all of them with my husband without blinking, and if there was another sequel, we would have watched it, too. This trilogy takes place in the north of Spain, in the Basque region, which can be compared to the Black Sea region of Turkey in terms of its climate and nature. The journey of the successful cop Amaia Salazar, which begins with trying to solve a series of mysterious serial murders committed in the town where she was born, becomes much more complicated as she delves into her own dark and painful childhood years and family history. In addition to being a crime movie that you will watch breathlessly, it was a movie that impressed me with its skillful incorporation of the unique mythology of the Basque region into the plot and its multi-faceted handling of its protagonist. This trilogy was first written as novels by the Spanish writer Dolores Redondo and was later adapted into a movie triology. I appreciated that the protagonist is such a strong woman and is not treated as an object, but as a character with depth.

My husband and I accidentally mixed up the order by starting from the second movie, then watching the first and finally watching the third, but the correct order is as follows: The first movie is El Guardian Invisible (The Invisible Guardian), the second is El Legado de los Huesos (The Legacy of the Bones) and the third is Ofrenda a la Tormenta (Offering to the Storm). You can find them all on Netflix (in Turkey, at least).

Crime / History / Biography

11. Un Hombre de Accion (A Man of Action)

This is sort of a Robin Hood story about the life of a real person named Lucio Urtubia, who came to France after the Spanish Civil War to escape the misery in the country and with the hope for a better life, joined the anarchists there and started defrauding big banks. I think it's always enjoyable to watch how a few poor but proud citizens go head-to-head with the rich, who seem to be invincible. This production, which reminds me a bit of Leonardo di Caprio's Catch Me If You Can, in terms of the crimes and deceptions they committed, stretches from the 1940s to the 1980s and tells the Spain and France of that period in a very aesthetic way with nostalgic places, clothes and music. Although it is a bit too long at times, it was an entertaining film.

Documentary

12. 100 Dias con la Tata (100 Days with Tata)

I am sharing with you a documentary that will make you cry and laugh a lot at the same time. In this documentary, Spanish actor Miguel Angel Muñoz talks about his love and closeness to his one and only Tata (his grandmother's sister) who raised him, and shares with us the 100 days of the quarantine he spent looking after her at Tata's house in the early days of the pandemic. You may be fed up with the pandemic and quarantine and maybe that's why this documentary may not be very interesting to you at first glance, but I think everybody will find something that reminds them of a loved elderly family member, will make you remember the truth of the life that we ​all ​try to escape in our busy daily lives, and experience emotional moments. How much do we show our love to the people we love the most in life? What can we sacrifice for them?Is the fear of losing them crawling at the back of your mind? Can you put your entire private life and career aside for their good? While watching Miguel Muñoz and his beloved Tata, I'm sure your favorite family members will pass before your eyes and these questions will come to your mind. I did not know Muñoz before, but I can say that I admired him while watching. Not because of his looks or profession, but because he is a person who can show his love in such a beautiful way.

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That's all for now, but I follow Spanish movies closely and I will continue to share my favorites with you as I watch them :) If you have Spanish movie suggestions on Netflix, you can share them with us in the comments or on Instagram.

P.S. If you want to see the 10 best Spanish Netflix series I've selected so far, click here!

¡Adios!