The bittersweet honor of two Oscar nominations for Sirat left Spain with the sense that its national cinema continues to hold its own on the international stage. Today, that perception is reinforced — at least at the box office — by two releases fresh out of the oven: Bitter Christmas, by Pedro Almodóvar, and Torrente: President, by Santiago Segura.

Following the bold adventure of Oliver Laxe and his iconoclastic film centered on a desert rave, it could be said that the classics — or the traditional, depending on one's perspective — have returned. And naturally, neither of the two new releases will leave audiences indifferent.

Bitter Christmas feels something like a déjà vu in the vein of Pain and Glory, though the distances between the two films are considerable upon closer examination. Two essential storylines anchor the picture, which many critics have read as a reflection of Almodóvar's own inner circle of collaborators at his production company, El Deseo.

The synopsis offers few clues — or perhaps all the ones the two-time Oscar winner and arguably Spain's most internationally recognized filmmaker is willing to provide. Elsa is an advertising director whose mother dies over a long December holiday weekend. A panic attack forces her to step back. She decides to travel to Lanzarote accompanied by her friend Patricia, who also needs to escape Madrid, while her partner Bonifacio stays behind in the city.

Through these characters, the creator of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Talk to Her, Volver, The Skin I Live In, and All About My Mother weaves a form of autofiction, sketching the moral intricacies of the creative mind.

The other Spanish box-office story of this tentative early spring is Torrente: President, which continues a franchise built around a vulgar character firmly convinced of his own status as a national hero. José Luis Torrente, played once again by Segura himself, now ventures into politics in this dark comedy that attempts a critique of the far right and includes parodies of Donald Trump — though critics note it barely scratches the surface of its subject matter.

Yet its reluctance to wade into the murkier depths of political satire does not distance it from a general public eager to laugh at the tense global reality of the moment. The film boasts a standout ensemble cast, including popular comedian Leo Harlem, impressionist Carlos Latre, El Intermedio director Gabino Diego, and American actors Alec Baldwin — as Trump — and Kevin Spacey, playing a character known as The Chief.