Spanish dramas: The Best Spanish-Language Series and Shows to Watch on Netflix 2022

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Sky Rojo

IMDB

Coral (Verónica Sánchez), Wendy (Lali Espósito) and Gina (Yany Prado) work at a brothel called Las Novias Club (“The Girlfriends Club” in English). But when a series of events turns fatal, the three women run away together in search for freedom. Unfortunately, it’s not the last the trio has heard of their boss, Romeo (Asier Etxeandia), and his henchman, Moises (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), and Christian (Enric Auquer).

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Alba

IMDB

The drama revolves around titular character Alba (Elena Rivera) who returns to her hometown for the holidays. After she wakes up on the beach, there’s evidence of an attack but she can’t remember what happened. Still, Alba eventually finds out that it was people she knows who were responsible for that night — and her boyfriend, Bruno (Eric Masip), brought them into her life. Can she make her case for justice before it’s too late? Fans of Élite will instantly recognize actor Álvaro Rico, who plays a lead in the Spanish show.

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42 días en la oscuridad (42 Days of Darkness)

IMDB

Inspired by the real-life disappearance of Viviana Haeger in 2010, the six-part Chilean drama takes viewers into the search for the mother of two who goes missing from her home. Actress Aline Küppenheim plays Viviana and Claudia Di Girólamo portrays her sister, Claudia, who goes on an intense search amid a media frenzy. According to reports, this marked the first Chilean Netflix series.

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Alta Mar (High Seas)

IMDB

When a luxury ship sets sail from Spain to Brazil, sisters Eva (Ivana Baquero) and Carolina (Alejandra Onieva) Villanueva aren’t prepared to discover the secrets it holds. A spin on the classic whodunit storyline, a roster of passengers are investigated when a murder occurs and gold is discovered, among other shocking events.

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¿Quién Mató a Sara? (Who Killed Sara?)

Netflix

The Mexican crime drama follows the journey of Álex Guzmán (Manolo Cardona) as he tries to answer the burning question: who killed Sara? But discovering who was behind his sister’s death decades ago only brings up even more questions. And just when viewers at home think the mystery is close to being solved, there’s another plot twist added to the mix.

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Club de Cuervos (Club of Crows)

Netflix

When Chava (Luis Gerardo Méndez) and Isabel (Mariana Treviño)’s father dies, a power struggle begins between the siblings over his soccer team, Cuervos FC, in this comedy-drama hybrid. Although Chava inherits the team and becomes president, Isabel believes she’s better suited for the job and makes it her mission to replace him.

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Élite

Netflix

This thriller teen drama may remind Spanish-speaking viewers of the hit 2004 telenovela Rebelde, which is also set in an exclusive high school. When three working-class teens start attending Las Encinas, the school’s wealthy upperclassmen aren’t particularly welcoming. Their rivalry ultimately leads to a murder and an intense investigation. If you grew up watching telenovelas, actress Danna Paola will look familiar. She stars as Lu Montesinos alongside actors Miguel Bernardeau, Itzan Escamilla and Ester Expósito.

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Hache

Netflix

Set in 1960s Barcelona, Spain, a woman named Helena finds herself in a predicament when her husband lands in jail and is in need of a lawyer. Without the necessary funds, Helena turns to heroin cartel leader Malpica, who’s in the middle of a drug turf war. Despite the danger, she’s determined to earn Malpica’s love and trust. But she may just discover that she’s meant for a different kind of life in the drug world. Before taking on this lead role, actress Adriana Ugarte starred in the hit Spanish-language movies Durante la tormenta and Palmeras en la nieve.

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Ingobernable (Ungovernable)

IMDB

Actress Kate del Castillo stars in this fictional political drama as First Lady of Mexico Emilia Urquiza. With her husband, President Diego Nava (Erik Hayser), in office, she hopes to improve conditions for Mexicans. Unfortunately, Emilia quickly loses faith in him and files for divorce. Deciding not to go down without a fight, Diego confronts Emilia in a hotel suite. The First Lady later wakes up with a pistol in her hand while Diego is pronounced dead after a major fall.

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La Casa de Las Flores (House of Flowers)

IMDB

This Mexican comedy drama brings together two families after Roberta Navarro’s death. Matriarch Virginia de la Mora Aguirre, portrayed by legendary Mexican actress Verónica Castro, discovers that her husband has had a longtime affair with Roberta, who owned a cabaret club bearing the same name as her prestigious floristry shop La Casa de Las Flores. Family dynamics drastically begin to shift as a result, impacting each individual throughout the show’s three seasons. After you breeze through the series, check out the movie.

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La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)

IMDB

Originally intended to be a limited series, La Casa de Papel was such a success in Spain that Netflix acquired global streaming rights for the show. The heist crime drama, which follows a professor plotting robberies of two major banks, is comprised of five seasons and a documentary. Fellows actors Miguel Herrán, Jaime Lorente and María Pedraza from Élite reunited in this hit show.

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La Reina del Flow (The Queen of Flow)

IMDB

A mix between a telenovela and a musical, La Reina del Flow takes place in Medellin, Colombia, with Yeimy Montoya at the center. The 17-year-old musician, played by actress María José Vargas Agudelo, joins the group Soul & Bass to compose reggaeton music. This decision, along with the death of her parents, propels her into a life of crime. Now, Yeimy is determined to get her revenge on those who once wronged her.

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Selena Barrientos

Entertainment & News Editor

Selena is the entertainment and news editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers the latest on TV, movies and celebrities. In addition to writing and editing entertainment news, she also spotlights the Hispanic and Latinx community through her work. She is a graduate of CUNY Hunter College with a B.A. in journalism and creative writing.

Best Spanish Dramas

Type:

Series

Year:

2022 2021

Genre:

All Drama Comedy Thriller Melodrama Action Crime

Country:

All Russian American British French Soviet Japanese Spanish

Other selections:

Movies about Spain

realistic movies

Fascinating Movies

Psychological films

Movies about love

touching movies

Movies about family relationships

Movies about friendship

TOP movies of the list “Best Spanish dramas” : Talk to her (2002), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Invisible Guest (2016), Three meters above the sky (2010), Pain and glory (2019), Return (2006) , All About My Mother (1999), 1917 (2019), Palm Trees in the Snow (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), From My Window (2022), Madrid, 1987 (2011), Parallel Mothers (2021), Three Meters Above Heaven: I Want You (2012), Adu (2020), Room in Rome (2010), Lulu Ages (1990), Camino (2008), Body ( 2012), West Side Story (2021).

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10 Spanish films that everyone should watch

November 19, 2022

Likbez

Movie

Contemporary classics from Alejandro Amenábar and Pedro Almodovar, as well as the work of original and daring young directors.

1. Open your eyes

Abre los ojos

• Spain, France, Italy, 1997.
• Mystery, drama, thriller.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.7.

Rich ladies’ man Cesar leads a completely luxurious lifestyle, but everything changes dramatically after he falls in love with Sophia, the girl of his best friend. Through the fault of a previous lover, obsessed with jealousy, the hero gets into an accident in which he survives, but receives severe facial injuries. Now his life is like a nightmare in which the dream is confused with reality.

Few people know that “Vanilla Sky” with Tom Cruise is actually just a remake, while the original was directed by the Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. The most interesting thing is that Penelope Cruz also starred in the Hollywood version, and she played the same role as in the original.

2. All about my mother

Todo sobre mi madre

• Spain, France, 1999.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 101 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.8.

Still from the film “All About My Mother”

Manuela alone brings up her sixteen-year-old son, who suddenly dies under the wheels of a car. After reading the boy’s diary, the inconsolable heroine learns that the boy most of all wanted to know who his father was. And she goes to bohemian Barcelona to find the prodigal parent.

The work of the director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar won not only many European awards, but also the Oscar and Golden Globe awards for the best foreign language film. It is not surprising, because the early Almodovar was revealed here in all its glory: there is kitsch, bright colors, and temperamental outcast heroes.

3. Sunny Mondays

Los lunes al sol

• Spain, France, Italy, 2002.
• Social drama.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.6.

In the center of the plot are several friends who have lost their jobs. Two years after they were fired, they still haven’t managed to get their lives back on track. And longing, like a swamp, sucks the heroes more and more every day.

Director Fernando Leon de Aranoa conveyed a non-standard look at sunny Spain, and Javier Bardem, who later starred again with the same director in the biographical drama Escobar, became the real gem of the film.

4. Sea inside

Mar adentro

• Spain, France, Italy, 2004.
• Biographical drama.
• Duration: 121 minutes.
• IMDb: 8.0.

The film tells the true story of the paralyzed Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who for many years tried to obtain the right to euthanasia. He once broke his neck while swimming and since then he dreamed of only one thing – to die in peace.

In his fourth feature film, director Alejandro Amenabar showed himself as a great storyteller, and the lead actor Javier Bardem showed miracles of reincarnation: the 34-year-old actor was made up so that he looked older by as much as 20 years.

5. Return

Volver

• Spain, 2006.
• Tragicomedy, mysticism, drama.
• Duration: 121 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.6.

Raimunda, a poor woman, lives with her unemployed alcoholic husband and teenage daughter and has no idea that her world will soon be turned upside down. The situation becomes very strange after the deceased mother of the heroine returns as a ghost to solve family problems.

“Return” is often called Almodovar’s most “feminine” film – which, however, is already close to this topic. After all, the director shot in this picture all his favorites: Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo.

But the real gem of the cast was the incomparable Penélope Cruz, a constant star of late Almodovar’s work. By the way, the role of the strong and strong-willed Raymond brought the actress, in addition to being honored at Cannes, also a nomination for an Oscar.

6. Shelter

El orfanato

• Spain, Mexico, 2007.
• Mysticism, horrors.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.4.

A shot from the film “Shelter”

Laura, no longer young, but still a beautiful woman, returns to the abandoned orphanage where she once grew up with her husband and adopted son. But everything goes awry: the boy first tells her about the terrible ghostly children, one of whom wears a bag on his head, and then disappears altogether in the midst of the holiday.

In the debut film of the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, the influence of his longtime friend and part-time producer of the film, the Mexican Guillermo del Toro, the main storyteller of our time, can be traced. That did not prevent the project from receiving laudatory reviews and seven national Goya film awards.

7. The skin I live in

La piel que habito

• Spain, 2011.
• Body horror, science fiction, thriller, melodrama.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.6.

Talented plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard shows his colleagues his new development – lab-grown artificial skin. The management, however, immediately orders him to close the immoral project, but the doctor is in no hurry to get upset. After all, the girl Vera lives in the basement of his house, entirely sewn from “advanced” material.

For Pedro Almodovar (at that time already a mature master), this work with Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya in the lead roles became a kind of genre experiment. The Skin I Live In is a thriller, noir, and detective at the same time, with much of the film’s imagery taken from the black-and-white French horror film Eyes Without a Face.

8. Life is easy with eyes closed

Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados

• Spain, 2013.
• Comedy drama.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.0.

Outside in 1966. Good-natured Antonio, an English teacher and part-time passionate fan of The Beatles, decides to go in search of John Lennon in the hope of persuading him not to leave the group. On the way, the teacher acquires fellow travelers: a young girl, Belen, who escaped from a boarding house, and a teenage rebel, Juanjo.

The road movie directed by David Trueuba was critically acclaimed, won numerous national awards and was even nominated for an Oscar. At first glance, this is a very light, cloudless movie. But if we remember that the film takes place during the reign of the Spanish dictator Franco, the events of the picture will immediately appear in a different light.

9. Invisible guest

Contratiempo

• Spain, 2016.
• Crime thriller, detective.
• Duration: 106 minutes.
• IMDb: 8.1.

Still from the film The Invisible Guest

An influential businessman Adrian Doria is accused of murdering his mistress, and then he hires Virginia Goodman, the best lawyer in the city. True, Virginia is no longer young, and for her this is the last thing in her career. But she is not going to lose it. Only now, when the lawyer arrives at Adrian’s house to work out a line of defense, such details are clarified that it is better to remain silent about.

A very interesting experiment from the director and screenwriter Oriol Paolo with a chamber narration in the spirit of Agatha Christie’s detectives. Moreover, after the release on the Netflix streaming platform, the film received international recognition and was even re-shot three times. By the way, critics also compared Paolo’s previous work “The Body” with the works of the writer, as well as with the works of the suspense genius Alfred Hitchcock.

10. Platform

El hoyo

• Spain 2019
• Social parable, horror, fantasy.
• Duration: 94 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.0.

A young man named Goreng wakes up in a multi-level prison made up of many cells one below the other. A platform with food passes through the central opening once a day, but the lower the prisoners are, the less chance they have to eat. The hero will have to spend a month with his neighbor Trimagassi on the 48th floor, and at the end of this period they may end up on any tier of the tower (perhaps even more uninhabitable).