Javier Ruiz Caldera
Ghost academy

When the five image-bodies of schoolmates Angela and Mariví, Jorge, Dani, and Pinfloy take the ectoplasmic road and, in a tube of light, start their journey to the otherworldly abode, we truly breathe a huge sigh of relief. The diaphragm moves up and down a couple of times not only because the fate of the poor 'chicos' is finally certain and conclusive, but especially because Spanish cinema (and, ultimately, European cinema) with this delightful work by director Javier Ruiz Caldera demonstrates its ability to ideally define the contours of the 'good American comedy', to metabolize and amplify in a continental key some tenets of the Hollywood 'teen-movie', and, not least of all, its ability to intelligently entertain with the always double-edged weapon of cinematic zaniness.

It is not yet time to determine what this film might represent for future European cinema; we are talking about entertainment cinema, to be clear, but we have no intention of banishing to the depths of any subcategory the audience of these honest 'products'. One must not make the mistake of too easily dismissing a comedy like this that perhaps isn't a comedy, that is not a thriller, even if it has traces of suspense internal to the plot and never embedded in the narrative passages solely to awaken the more distracted audience in the theater, that even if smeared with horror knows how to lead it prudently into the realm of 'strong feeling', that waltzes harmoniously between a musical and an epic interdimensional love story (the tear-jerking "Ghost" by Zucker is outclassed 'both in spirit and body'!).

Today we would be truly unfair, deceitful, or misleading to compare "Promoción fantasma" to what the pioneering and 'stylish' work of George Lucas and John Landis caused in the '70s, directly (John Hughes, a few strokes from that irregular par excellence of American cinema that was John Waters, the 'back-to-the-future-cinema' of Zemeckis) or indirectly (many painful little things from various 'American pies', or 'schools' or 'colleges' as one may call them). The impact of this film will be defined by the coming years, showing us how the conscious production effort of Mod Producciones by Fernando Bovaira has once again hit the heart 'of the genre' (after having done so only partially with the socio-family drama of "Biutiful", and almost completely with the historical-ideal drama of "Agora"), or conversely how the rule that wants the field of mischievous-school-musical cinema 'impassable' for European epics has been celebrated once again. Two things are worth saying in this regard. And to add nothing more, waiting for time, Monsieur Time, to do its usual dirty and solid work. In the same year in which an Iberian joint venture of eight (eight!) promoters, plus entities/media platforms like Fox International, Canal+, AXN, and TVE, made the realization of the film in question possible, in American lands Matthew Spradlin doomed the 'genre' with that atrocity titled "Bad kids go to hell"; secondly, it is recent news that Will Smith intends to buy the international rights of "Promoción fantasma" to produce an all-star and stripes remake by 2015. That is enough and more than enough, and it needs no further comment.

But let's come to these brief 90 minutes of abundant delight! The story navigates on a tri-temporal axis. 1986, the year in which the fire occurred, developing during an end-of-year party, causing the death of five students at the "Les Monforte" college; 1994, when during a school dance timid teenager Modesto has his first 'encounter' with those who have 'unfinished business' with life and even though deceased cannot leave this world; finally, 2012, when most of the film unfolds, coalescing the previous 'dramatic' premises and masterfully composing and re-composing them until the solution of the plot. The pace of the story is fast-paced, well-measured, and except for some small lapses in the central part, perfectly proportioned to an average but intelligent product. The direction showcases truly hilarious comic moments (the 'sessions' with the psychoanalyst with the belly-laugh-inducing Oedipal homosexual rapport, the frustrated concierge of the college who from fervent Catholic becomes a fanatical 'cumbera' desperately seeking a spirit to 'possess' her, the annoying parents' representative who discredits himself by stripping and proposing a bestial orgy), alternated with subplots of considerable dramatic depth. The substantial contribution to the good final outcome is given by the acting department, well-matched and with some slight imperfections in Pinfloy (the 'full of spirit' spirit) and in Mariví (who is not 'full' as she tends to emphasize, but 'pregnant', and who will discover at her expense the paternity of the ghost-fetus she carries), and with the heartfelt performances of Raúl Arévalo and Alexandra Jiménez, it makes the rhythm of the plot sail smoothly. Outstanding, and it was obvious that considerable attention would be dedicated to the soundtrack, choreography (excellently brief, light, and pulsating), and music, with the refrain of Bonnie Tyler's epoch-making hit, that "Total eclipse of the heart" that burned the 'wonderful' 80s into living flesh, slipped away in the 'bewildered' 90s and now rises to an undying anthem of the 'wondering' naughts and to follow…

If as theorist Vachel Lindsay claims in his famous aphorism, "Action films are culture in motion, intimate films are painting in motion, films of Splendor, the kolossals, are architecture in motion," this "Promoción fantasma" as a multifaceted comedy is 'a watercolor in motion'. You never know when it will change color and tone, but when it does, it simply enchants. Four stars, three well-deserved and one of encouragement…