''Cross the Line'' ( es, No matarás, links=no) is a 2020 Spanish thriller film directed by David Victori. It stars

Mario Casas Mario Casas Sierra (born 12 June 1986) is a Spanish actor. He rose to fame in Spain with the television series ''Los hombres de Paco'' (2007-2010), and later in the film ''Three Steps Above Heaven'' (2010). Early life and education Casas was ...

alongside Milena Smit and Elisabeth Larena. The film won the

Goya Award for Best Actor The Goya Award for Best Actor (Spanish: ''Premio Goya a la mejor interpretación masculina protagonista'') is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. Actors that won or were nominated for this category have had a signific ...

(Casas) from a total of three nominations at the 35th Goya Awards. At the

8th Feroz Awards The 8th ceremony of the Feroz Awards was held at the Teatro Coliseum in Madrid, on 2 March 2021. The ceremony was hosted by Pilar Castro. Originally scheduled to take place on 8 February 2021 at the Teatro Ciudad de Alcobendas in Alcobendas, the ...

, the film also won Best Actor, from a total of four nominations.

Plot

Dani is a man working in a

travel agency A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...

. He experiences the death of his father, outwardly dealing with the situation in a quite unperturbed manner. Upon the unexpected and unwanted entry of his sister Laura in the company's office he works in asking for a tour package, he reluctantly begins to toy with the plan of reserving a package to travel around the world. One night, a stranger, a woman, asks Dani money to pay for a burger in a bar, to which he ends up accepting. He leaves the place and the woman joins him afterward. Accompanied by Dani, the woman breaks into a tattoo store which the woman claims to be owned by some of her friends by getting the keys of the storefront's roller security shutter hidden in a water drainage channeling located nearby. Once inside, and following the woman's deactivation of the

security alarm A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusion, such as unauthorized entry, into a building or other areas such as a home or school. Security alarms used in residential, commercial, industrial, and military properties protect against ...

by entering the code, she tries to convince a begrudging Dani to get a

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

. After drinking alcohol, the woman (Mila) tattoos the word '' on Dani's right arm. Mila then takes a

selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as F ...

together with Dani with a Polaroid, putting the instant snapshot on a panel with other photographs. Dani and Mila leave the place and move to an apartment, where they start having sex. An angry and violent man (Ray, Mila's boyfriend) enters the apartment, threatening Dani and Mila. Ray attacks Dani, and Dani ends up attacking Ray in

self-defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...

with a penetrating weapon, and so Ray bleeds to death. Mila, claiming that the police would be persuaded to believe Dani's good boy version instead of hers, attempts suicide by jumping out of the window. Also horrified and nervous, a

hooded A hood is a kind of headgear that covers most of the human head, head and neck, and sometimes the face. Hoods that cover mainly the sides and top of the head, and leave the face mostly or partly open may be worn for protection from the environm ...

Dani flees from the scene. Dani asks his sister Laura (a well-connected

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

) for help and information about what the police know about the events in the building. After finding out that the only physical evidence connecting him to the deaths is the Polaroid photograph featuring him and Mila, Dani decides to return to the tattoo store in order to remove the evidence. He activates the alarm and so the store's staff (who were just leaving the place) begin to chase him in the store, and then in the streets of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Dani ends up prevailing. Also, having learned that Mila is actually alive and badly wounded, Dani visits her hospital room. The films end up with a deranged and blood-stained Dani being torn about what to do with Mila.

Cast

Production

The film is a

Filmax Filmax International is a Spanish motion picture production company and film distributor based in Barcelona, and one of Spain's largest integrated film and television groups. It produced the ''REC'' horror series, and owns the Nirvana Films an ...

production, with the participation of TVE, TVC and

Movistar+ Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by Telefónica, which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL and as well as with satellites such as ...

. It was shot in

Release

The film had its

world premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...

at the 53rd

Sitges Film Festival The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost in ...

on 10 October 2020. Distributed by Filmax, it was theatrically released in Spain on 16 October 2020.

Reception

According to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Cross the Line'' has a 100% approval rating based on 5 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.7/10. Ard Vijn of ''

ScreenAnarchy Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films ...

'' was tempted to go as far as considering the film as "one of the best thrillers of recent times", praising how "refreshing" is it "to see something this well-made, straightforward rather than formulaic, seemingly flashy yet rooted in reality, and without any groan-inducing flaws or inconsistencies".

Awards

, - , rowspan = "7" align = "center" , 2021 , rowspan=4 ,

, colspan=2 , Best Drama Film , , rowspan = "4" , , - ,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

, David Victori , , - , Best Actor in a Film , Mario Casas , , - , Best Original Soundtrack , Adrian Foulkes and Federico Jusid , , - , rowspan=3 , 35th Goya Awards , , Best Actor , Mario Casas , , rowspan = "3" , , - , Best New Actor , Fernando Valdivielso , , - , Best New Actress , Milena Smit ,

Notes

References

External links

* * 2020 films 2020s Spanish-language films Spanish thriller films 2020 thriller films Films shot in Barcelona 2020s Spanish films {{2020s-Spain-film-stub