Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection — Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection ( Blu Ray)

Here from Severin, we have a two Blu ray set bringing together three brutal and provocative quinqui (delinquent films) made by Basque writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia, who will be known to genre fans for his video nasty list hitting film The Cannibal Man. The three films presented here are- Navajeros(1980), El Pico (1983), and El Pico 2( 1984)- and tattle subjects such as youth gangs, drugs, and general Spanish city life discord/ sleaze. The set is finished off with a great selection of interesting extras.
 

Eloy de la Iglesia was a Guipúscoa Spain born director/ writer -who was known for his provocative films that stabbed at the Spanish regime of the time, as it switched to democracy. In all he directed twenty-two films- with these going from fairy tale anthology film Fantasía... 3(1966),  onto the claustrophobic romantic drama of  lgo amargo en la boca(1969), serial killer exploitation meets slightly arty drama/ thriller The Cannibal Man(1972) early Spanish Giallo No One Heard the Scream (1973), brutal biker gang Sci-fi To Love, Perhaps To Die(1973), along with a host of delinquency/ social commentary films in the ’80s, three of which are featured here.
 
The two-disc set is laid out with one film (Navajeros) and set extras on disc one, then two films on disc two. So first up on disc one we have 1981’s Navajeros- and this focus on devil may care/ cocky teen El Jaro (José Luis Manzano) who leads a gang of delinquents in Madrid, who when the film starts are involved in petty crime- like stealing bikes, motorbikes, bag snatching, breaking into payphones, etc. 
The film is gritty & provocative from the off- with both male and female full nudity, moments of violence, chaos, and later gory death. El Jaro is sixteen, though has been living on the streets and involved in pretty crime since the age of ten- with many convictions/ arrests- and due to his age, he’s sent to detention centres, which he quickly escapes. A turning point occurs for both El Jaro, and his three teen gang- when he gets hold of a shotgun- and from here they start dipping their toes into more serious crime- breaking into and robbing a house party, stealing off drug dealers and pharmacies, etc. The only thing constant/ consistent in thing in El Jaro's, life aside from his gang, and getting arrested, is middle-aged proustite Mercedes(Isela Vega) whom he sleeps with and trusts.
As the film goes on it feels like El Jaro is like a very lucky cat, with many life’s- he gets through a brutal gay rape, he gets bad beatings, is shot at multiple times, with one of the shootings losing him a testicle. Towards the end of the film he almost looks like he might be settling down, as he makes drug-taking old teen Toni (Verónica Castro) pregnant. Also added into the mix we have a journalist working on an article about teen crime, whose keen to interview El Jaro, and give us facts/ figures about crime in Spain in the ’70s.
 
With his tight curly hair, fixed and defiant stare, and cocky attitude Manzano is great as the films lead, Mexican actress Vega is effective as the tricky, jaded, but loves her toyboy hooker. With the supporting cast been largely well placed and believable too. On the whole, Navajeros is punchy, at points brutal and provocative 70’s drama focusing in the world of Spanish street gangs, and apparently, it’s all based on fact too.

On this first disc we get all the extras- and we get a very nice selection of content. First off we have José Sacristán on Eloy de la Iglesia- this is an eight-minute on-screen and subtitled Interview with Actor José Sacristán who played the journalist in Navajeros, as well as other work with the director- and this is an interesting interview. Next, we get Blood in The Streets: The Quinqui Film Phenomenon- this runs forty-four minutes and features Quinqui Historians Mery Cuesta and Tom Whittaker( who has also written a book about the genre The Spanish Quinqui Film: Delinquency, Sound, Sensation). This is a great doc about the Quinqui genre- discussing how/ why it first came about, important/ key films, film themes, key actors- many who were no-actors/ gang members, and much more. In all between 1977 and 1987, there were 30 films released in the genre, and this really is a wonderfully summing up of all Quinqui was/ and its impact, and it’s certainly made me keen to track down other films in the genre.
Next, we get Queerness, Crime, And The Basque Conflict In The Quinqui Films Of Eloy de la Iglesia- this runs one hour and seven minutes. And it finds a skype discussion between film Scholars Alejandro Melero and Paul Julian Smith, moderated by Evan Purchell of Ask Any Buddy. This starts with the three discussing Iglesia early films before moving on to talk about Quinqui film and how homosexuality & homoerotica is dealt with in his films in the genre. This is also most worthy, and just like the doc remains informative/ interesting throughout, never become too highbrow scholarly. 
 

Moving onto the second disc in the set, and we have 1983’s El Pico, and its 1984 sequel El Pico. So first up we have El Pico, which is a drug addiction drama focusing on two late teen friends in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao who get wrapped up in drug dealing, then addiction.
The teens are Pacco- Navajeros’s José Luis Manzano- who is the son of Evaristo (José Manuel Cervino) the uptight disciplinarian commander of the Civil Guard, and Urko (Javier Garcia) who is the son of left wing politician Aberzale (Luis Iriondo). The pair start off dealing hash to their buddies and keep their own light drug use unknown to their parents. In time they meet and start hanging out more and more with young prostitute Betty (Lali Espinet)- who has a heroin habit but is seemingly managing to handle day to day life well. Through her, they get to know a middle-aged heroin drug dealer and his pregnant partner. Due to the teen's clean looks, the dealer is pleased with how well the two are doing- but instead of giving them a cash cut, he gives them a wrap of heroin instead. 
They snort the drugs, boastfully saying they’ll remain unhooked- but then one night Betty offers to shoot them up, and from here both become hooked- and as expected this very much affects both their family life and their own health’s.
 
Luis Manzano is once again very good in his role- really selling the seemingly fit doing well teen, whose father wants to go into military academic. Garcia is believable as his best friend, again playing well a seemingly fit/ well teen. Garcia is a perfect fit for the domineering father figure. Other worthy mentions include Enrique San Francisco, as a gay sculptor Pacco hangs out with, and Pedro Nieva Parola who plays Teniente Pacco's unwell mother. 
On the whole, El Pico is less provocative and pacey than Navajeros- with a much more drama focus, though we still get full-frontal male and female nudity, at times disturbing drug use/ come down portrayal and bloody gunplay later in the film. The film runs at the one hour and forty-eight-minute mark, and largely remains compelling, at times troubling drama set in Spain of the 1980s.
 
 
Finally, we of course we have 1984’s El Pico 2- and this picks up a short time after the end of the first film- with father and son Evaristo and Pacco moving to Madrid, to initially live with Pacco’s with servant grandmother. I won’t go any deeper into the plot, as it will start to spoil the resolve of the first film or spoil the surprises in this film. But on the whole, it’s a rewarding enough follow up, it runs just over the two-hour mark- yes in a few places it feels a tad baggy, and we also get a bit of flashback to the first film- which after just watching El Pico is a little grating- though it’s at no way up to the level of something like Boogeyman II. This second film pushes the level of nudity, gruelling close-up drug use, and brutal violence, with some more thriller-like touches blended with the drama tropes.
 
 
In finishing Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection is a rather wonderful taking in these three key films from the notorious, gritty, and provocative quinqui genre. All of the prints look good, and there’s a great selection of extras too. Let’s hope Severin puts out some more films within the genre, and it would be great to see other key quinqui films getting the classy Severin treatment.