O Maquinista

Between life and death (2022) or Entre la vie et la mort , or Entre la vida y la muerte is a nice suspense/action movie in which the night plays a leading role . Let's think about the first moment of the movie when Leo is on the beach with a gun and subsequently happening a lot of twisted events . It deals with Spanish Leo (Málaga actor Antonio de la Torre) , he is a subway driver in Brussels , when a terrible suicide takes place . His appearance, which is more of a careless man, with that prominent beard leads to unexpected consequences and his search for answers will head him to a dangerous investigation and to face his own past. He is the absolute protagonist , the character on whom the plot revolves and the one who solves the outcome. Along the way, a policewoman (Marine Vacth) and her father (Olivier Gourmet) are others interesting roles showing up here and there . The immigrant stunningly played by De la Torre, Leo Castañeda , with an apparent routine life in Brussels, hides a past that both the public and the police want to know . And several people are looking for him, going after him , near the end.

A contemporary urban thriller about the bloody journey of a Brussels subway driver. ¨Between Life and Death¨ is a Belgian, French and Spanish film in which the best quality contribution is transmitted by the Spanish actor Antonio de la Torre . It's mainly set at night and its contrast with what happens during the day is really significant. The use of the Atomium as the main monumental element of the city I see as something very successful , distinguishing between the public part of the city , the Atomium, and the private lives that take place in it , like Leo's life . The actors are frankly good and of course, the best is Antonio de la Torre, without a doubt . Some characters have little developed , resulting in Leo's character and the interpretation of the Spanish actor is superlative compared to the rest . If this is his international launch , he certainly has more than delivered . His long and prolific career started with his first role in cinema in Los peores años de nuestra vida (1994) as Emilio Martínez-Lázaro. He succeeded on TV with Padre Coraje and Lleno, por favor. He is known for acting in a lot of Spanish short films. He has worked many times with Daniel Sánchez Arévalo in these short films. Antonio acted on this director's first film called AzulOscuroCasiNegro (2006), which lead him to win The Goya Award as Best Secondary Actor. Antonio has worked also many times with Álex de la Iglesia as a supporting actor, but it was in 2010 when he had the leading role in Balada triste de trompeta, being nominated to The Goyas Awards. In 2009, he took again the leading role in a Sánchez Arévalo , a comedy film called Gordos. He gained 33 kilos to play his role as Enrique. Because of that character, he was rewarded with his second nomination to The Goyas Awards. During next years he kept acting in Daniel Sánchez Arévalo films, as La isla interior (2009), Lope (2010) and Primos (2011). In December 2008, Antonio starred in a stage play named La taberna fantástica, written by Alfonso Sastre and directed by Gerardo Malla. Later, in 2012, he was nominated to The Goyas Awards as Best Leading Role and as Best Supporting actor for his performances in Grupo 7 and Invasor, winning neither of them. He played the leading role in Raúl Arévalo's debut as a film director in Tarde para la ira in 2016. In 2018, Antonio de la Torre starred in El reino with Mónica López and directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Antonio received his second The Goya Award as Best Leading Role because of this film.

Highlights of the movie are the importance of father-son or father-daughter relationships , both on the side of Castañeda and his son Hugo and in the case of the commissioner and his daughter. But eventually , there are other things going wrong. For example , the story is inconsistently paced , it is too convoluted at times and , worst of all, we get confused following the development, including a sedative as well as tiring touch that the film has been prevailing over some more vigorous aspect that could get us out of boredom . The first part is pretty good, but halfway the film one loses interest and it turns out to be little more than passable and acceptable flick . The conclusion is that ¨Entre la vida y la muerte¨ pretends to be a modern European crime thriller, but it only succeeds in the first part , later getting lost between the intricacy of the plot and the slow and fleeble pace , apart from a lack of verve in the decisive and violent scenes . The final part in which Leo confronts his persecutors does not give credibility enough , adding lousily shot action scenes . The movements are slow, the physical fights seem forced and in short I don't believe that we are dealing with criminals committing a robbery or with a tough man like Leo is presented to us. The motion picture was professionally directed by Giordano Gederlini , though it has some flaws and gaps . It got some awards and nominations , such as : Brussels International Film Festival 2022 Nominee Grand Prix du Festival Giordano Gederlini ; Premios Carmen 2023 Nominee Carmen Award Best Lead Actor Antonio de la Torre.