''Winning Streak'' ( es, The Pelayos) is a 2012 Spanish comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Eduard Cortés. It stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

that includes

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo (; born 16 June 1978) is a Spanish-German actor and filmmaker. He received his first German Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' Das Weisse Rauschen (The White Sound)'' (2001), ''Nichts ...

, Lluís Homar,

Miguel Ángel Silvestre (born 6 April 1982) is a Spanish actor. He rose to prominence with his performance as El Duque in '' Sin tetas no hay paraíso''. He has since played roles in series such as ''Velvet'', ''Sense8'', '' Narcos'', ''30 Coins'' and ''Sky Rojo''. ...

Eduard Fernández Eduard Fernández Serrano (born 25 August 1964) is a Spanish screen and stage actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Goya Awards and four Gaudí Awards. Biography Eduard Fernández was born in Barcelona on 25 August ...

and

Blanca Suárez Blanca Martínez Suárez (born 21 October 1988) is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her performances on television series '' The Boarding School'' (2007–10), '' The Boat'' (2011–13), and the Spanish Language Netflix series' ''Las ch ...

. It is based on the exploits of the García-Pelayo family. The film premiered on 21 April 2012 at the 15th Málaga Film Festival.

Background

The film is based on the life story and multifaceted personality of Gonzalo García-Pelayo Segovia, a Spanish citizen who had a diverse career as a film director,Don Pelayo, the man who wants to dismantle internet security, by Jaime Rodríguez
12-22-2015, '' El Mundo'' TV host, music producer, professional gambler, games expert, sponsor for professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

players and creator of the online CRYPT-FIAT platform Mind.Capital, dedicated to buying and selling in the cryptocurrency exchange market. Pelayo's great leap to fame came when he developed a legal statistics-and-betting system that allowed him to win more than 1.2 million

euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

in the game of

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

, in the early 1990s, with the help of his family. García-Pelayo is currently remembered throughout the world for having made "jump the bank" in different world casinos with the mentioned system.The man who collapsed casinos wants to be the ambassador of Spanish bitcoin
11-0-2017, Economia Digital Galicia During the 1990s, "the Pelayos" were the public enemy of different casinos inside and outside Europe. His formula led them to earn as much as 13 million pesetas in a single night, something that did not sit well with some of the big casinos: in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, the group was even threatened at gunpoint to stop them playing. Years after making the headlines, Pelayo and his family chose to bet on online poker, launching an academy where they explained new methods that helped win it. One of his school's apprentices,

Carlos Mortensen Juan Carlos Mortensen (born April 13, 1972, in Ambato, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian professional poker player of Danish descent and the first South American Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker. Mortensen is known for his loose play, blu ...

, became a poker world champion in 2001, sponsored by Pelayo. However, according to Pelayo, the new gaming regulations were limiting the profits, and as a result "all the good players we had decided to leave". As of 2017 Pelayo is still banned from entering casinos in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Plot synopsis

Gonzalo García Pelayo ( Lluís Homar) has been trying for years to work out a system to legally win money in a local

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, which is run by the infamous The Beast (

). When he realizes he has succeeded in doing so, using a system based on wheel bias, he drags his family in to help — son Iván (

), daughter Vanessa (Marina Salas), their cousins Marcos (Oriol Vila) and muscle-bound Alfredo (

), and family friend Balón (Vicente Romero). Driven by Ivan's desire to give his father a decent old age, the gang sets to work, at first unsuccessfully. But when they start winning, the Beast's suspicions are aroused, and he puts a private detective onto them. Alfredo compromises the plan by getting involved with croupier Ingrid (

), who is summarily fired by the Beast. Next, Iván starts a romance with Chinese wild girl Shui (Hui Chi Chiu), whose friends turn out to be quite handy later on.

Cast

as Iván * Lluís Homar as Gonzalo García Pelayo *

as Alfredo *

as The Beast * Oriol Vila as Marcos *

Vicente Romero Vicente Romero Romero (born 8 February 1987) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a right midfielder. Football career Romero was born in Valencia. A product of local Valencia CF's youth academy, he only appeared once for its first team, ...

as Balón *

as Ingrid * Marina Salas as Vanessa * Huichi Chiu as Shui

Release

''Winning Streak'' premiered at the 15th Málaga Film Festival on 21 April 2012, and began its theatrical run in Spain on 27 April 2012. The film was also released in theatres in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

it was shown at both the Ottawa

European Union Film Festival European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

—on 16 November 2012—and the Vancouver European Union Film Festival on 23 November 2013. It was released

straight-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The film was on the program of the 2014 edition of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

's EU Film Festival, shown in the cities of

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen ( th, ขอนแก่น, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, also known as the "big four of Isan", the others being Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Ubon Ratchathani. It is the capital of Khon Kaen province and ...

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

. Advertised as ''The Pelayos'', the film was one of seven films that were shown in all three cities.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed to negative reviews from film critics. Jonathan Holland of the '' Variety'' wrote, "''

Ocean's Eleven ''Ocean's Eleven'' is a 2001 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Ted Griffin. The first installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy, it is a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name. The fil ...

'' tries to become a Hispanic '' Magnificent Seven'' in ''Winning Streak'' a disappointingly straight-ahead take on one family's high-risk attempt to get rich by beating the casinos. Despite its terrific real-life storyline, a couple of fine perfs and slick visuals, the pic stumbles in its eagerness to please all comers, failing to generate much real tension and leaving its characters as flat as poker chips". Sonia Sanz of Cultture.com criticized actors

, Lluís Homar, Oriol Vila,

and

for their "underwhelming" performances, and called the film itself "disappointing". Emilio Luna of the ''El Antepenúltimo Mohicano'' gave the film a rather negative review and awarded it with four out of ten stars. In a more positive review of the film, Patrick Mullen of Cinemablographer.com wrote, "Brühl and Homar's work is worth noting since they manage to draw out characters that don't seem to be part of the film's thin script. ..''Winning Streak'' is a fun little caper all the same, slight as it may be. ''Winning Streak'' probably won't break the bank, but it should at least break even", and gave the film three out of five stars.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 1843202, Winning Streak 2010s adventure comedy-drama films 2012 films Spanish films based on actual events Films set in Spain Films shot in Mallorca Films shot in Barcelona Films shot in Spain 2010s French-language films 2010s Mandarin-language films Spanish adventure comedy-drama films 2010s Spanish-language films 2012 multilingual films Spanish multilingual films 2010s Spanish films