20/09/2011

Spanish genre director Enrique Urbizu (Todo por la pasta, Box 507) presented his latest offering, No Rest for the Wicked at the San Sebastian Film Festival, as part of the Official Selection.

Spanish veteran actor José Coronado is the grouchy protagonist of this unclassifiable film, which borrows from genres as diverse as westerns, revenge pictures, crime pictures and police procedurals.

Written by Urbizu and regular co-writer Michel Gaztambide, the film opens with the rather drunk main character, Inspector Santos Trinidad (Coronado), being thrown out of a bar as it closes. Shortly afterwards, he pulls up in front of a night club-cum-brothel, though they seem to be closed as well. Not much later, three people, later identified as Colombian, are dead. And the person firing the shots was Trinidad.

Trinidad used to work as a homicide detective but now works in the missing people department, after an event that is only gradually revealed made him change departments.

He hasn’t, however, forgotten his skills as a homicide detective and is quick to cover his tracks, though his former colleagues and a tough female investigative judge (singer-turned-actress Helena Miquel) are on the case.

It’s here that the film becomes somewhat murky, as it is clear there’s a reason for Trinidad’s actions, which is probably related to the Muslim extremists Trinidad to be following, though the increasingly convoluted story becomes a little difficult to follow in the film’s second half.

Good-looking in a gritty way, the film has atmosphere to spare.

No Rest for the Wicked was produced by Gonzalo Salazar-Simpson, Ignacio Salazar-Simpson and Álvaro Agustín for LaZona Films, in association with Telecinco Cinema. International sales are handled by local genre giant Filmax International.