''Intacto'' (English: ''Intact'') is a 2001 Spanish

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed and co-written by

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (born 5 December 1967) is a Spanish film director, script writer, and producer. He directed ''Intacto'' and '' 28 Weeks Later'', the sequel to Danny Boyle's ''28 Days Later''. His film ''Esposados'' was nominated for the Aca ...

and starring

Leonardo Sbaraglia Leonardo Máximo Sbaraglia (; born 30 June 1970) is an Argentine actor, with extensive credits in both Argentina and Spain. He has also worked in Mexico, and was cast in his first English-language role in '' Red Lights''. Biography Sbaraglia was ...

Eusebio Poncela Eusebio Poncela Aprea (born 15 September 1947) is a Spanish actor. Biography Eusebio Poncela Aprea was born in Madrid on 15 September 1947. After graduating in drama, he made his debut onstage in the play '' Mariana Pineda'' in the mid 1960s ...

, Mónica López, Antonio Dechent, and Max von Sydow. It was first released in Spain during November, 2001, and then internationally on the film festival circuit in 2002. Rooted in

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

, the film depicts an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

trade in ''luck'', where fortune flows from those who have less to those who have more; the premise purports that luck can be amassed and transferred as any other commodity. The story follows several participants as they engage in literal games of chance, each one more risky than the last, to eliminate the unlucky.

Plot

A concentration camp survivor named Samuel Berg (Max von Sydow), a preternaturally lucky fellow, runs a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

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 ...

. One of his workers is Federico (Eusebio Poncela), a man who "steals" other people's luck merely by laying a hand on them (a similar concept is used in the 2003

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 ...

comedy-drama ''

The Cooler ''The Cooler'' is a 2003 American crime drama film directed by Wayne Kramer, from a screenplay by Frank Hannah and Kramer. The film stars William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy, Ron Livingston, Estella Warren, Paul Sorvino, and Alec Baldw ...

''). When Samuel Berg has a falling out with Federico and takes away his powers, Federico sets out to find the luckiest man alive (Leonardo Sbaraglia), the lone survivor of a plane crash, in order to use his powers to overpower Samuel Berg in the one game he has never lost: Russian roulette. Federico takes his partner through a series of tests in order to confirm his abilities. In the process, they approach the tightening circle of underground chance games that will eventually lead them both, and a female cop on their heels, to a final showdown with Samuel Berg.

Cast

as Tomás *

as Federico * Mónica López as Sara * Antonio Dechent as Alejandro * Max von Sydow as Sam

Reception

The review-aggregation 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 ...

gives the film a score of 72 percent based on reviews from 72 critics, and a weighted average of 6.5 out of 10. The website's "Critics Consensus" is: "The plot gimmick is original, bolstered by stylishly intriguing setpieces."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gives it a weighted average of 59/100 based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * * 2001 films 2001 psychological thriller films Films directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Films shot in Madrid Spanish thriller films 2000s Spanish-language films Films shot in the Canary Islands Magic realism films 2001 directorial debut films Films scored by Lucio Godoy 2000s Spanish films {{2000s-Spain-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links