Is the auteur dead? The case of Juanma Bajo Ulloa

The context for much of the study of Spanish cinema has been the auteurist tradition which saw film almost as a natural annex of authorial literary studies. The eccentricities of its personalities from Buuel to Almodvar have combined with an insistence on Spanish cinema's idiosyncrasies to fix difference and marginality as its trademarks. Younger directors - among them Juanma Bajo Ulloa - have ventured further into genres hitherto untouched by Spanish film, in many cases making increasingly commercial films, the reception of which is none the less still informed by the critical lens of auteurism. After briefly reviewing the debates surrounding auteurism and film genres, this article investigates the recent trend towards more genre-based films in Spain, through a textual analysis of Juanma Bajo Ulloa's three films.