''The Detective and Death'' ( es, El detective y la muerte, links=no) is a 1994 Spanish thriller film directed by Gonzalo Suárez.

Plot

Loosely based on

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

's "

The Story of a Mother "The Story of a Mother" ( da, Historien om en moder) is a story by the Danish poet, travel writer, short story writer and novelist Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). The tale was first published December 1847. The story has been made into films ...

", it is set in a fictional European city stirred by racial conflicts (in lieu of the forest from the short story).

Cast

Production

Produced by LolaFilms and Ditirambo Films, it was shot in between

Llanes Llanes (the ''Concejo de Llanes'', ''Conceyu de Llanes'' in Asturian language) is a municipality of the province of Asturias, in northern Spain. Stretching for about 30 km along the coast at the extreme east of the province, Llanes is bound ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Release

The film was presented at the

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in th ...

in September 1994. It was theatrically released on 30 September 1994.

Reception

David Rooney of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' assessed that despite the bizarre meeting between

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

and gruesome

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

featuring "commanding perfs and arresting visuals", the helmer "encumbers the lugubrious thriller with pretentious hokum".

Accolades

, - , align = "center" , 1994 , , 42nd

, ,

Silver Shell for Best Actor The Silver Shell for Best Actor (Spanish: ''Concha de Plata a la Mejor Interpretacion Masculina''; Basque: ''Aktore onenaren Zilarrezko Maskorra'') was one of the main awards presented at the San Sebastián International Film Festival to the Best A ...

, , Javier Bardem , , , , , - , align = "center" rowspan = "7" , 1995 , , rowspan = "5" ,

9th Goya Awards The 9th Goya Awards were presented in Madrid, Spain on 20 January 1995. '' Running Out of Time'' won the award for Best Film. Winners and nominees The nominees and winners are listed as follows: Major award nominees Other award nominees H ...

, ,

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...

, , Gonzalo Suárez , , , , rowspan = "5" , , - , Best Production Supervision , , José Luis García Arrojo , , , - , Best Original Score , , Suso Saiz , , , - , Best Editing , , José Salcedo , , , - , Best Special Effects , , Miroslaw Marchwinski , , , - , 45th

Fotogramas de Plata Fotogramas de Plata are a series of Spanish annual film, theatre and television awards awarded by ''Fotogramas'' film magazine since 1951. On 5 February 1951, ''Fotogramas'' magazine awarded their first Placa de San Juan Bosco award to actor Jes� ...

, , Best Actor , , Carmelo Gómez , , , , , - , 50th

CEC Awards The CEC Awards or CEC Medals ( es, links=no, Medallas del CEC), whose full name is , are awards presented annually by the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos (CEC; ) to distinguish films, artists, technicians, and writers related to cinema ...

, , Best Cinematography , , Carlos Suárez , , , ,

References

External links

* 1994 films Spanish thriller films 1990s Spanish-language films Films set in Europe Films shot in Asturias Films shot in Warsaw 1990s Spanish films Films directed by Gonzalo Suárez Films based on works by Hans Christian Andersen Spanish neo-noir films {{Spain-film-stub