Film Archive

Airbag

Juantxo's life is perfect: He is rich, he has a social position, a career and, in 5 days time, he is getting married to the daughter of a marquise.
But, before that, he will grant his friends one last request. At his stag night in a well-known brothel with his two friends - Pako and Konradin - he loses his virginity and his 30-million-Peseta engagement ring. The search for the lost ring plunges the three friends into the underworld of drug barons and brothel kings. Undaunted, the trio embark on a furious journey around northern Spain from brothel to brothel, unwittingly setting in motion a series of events that bring the drug gangs to each other's throats. They are let loose into a bizarre world: from Portuguese mafia boss Souza, his black magic powers and convoy of gun-toting kamikazes to unashamedly corrupt politicians; from dialectic policemen to exotic whores, and from coke to airbags that inflate with more than just air. On the way they meet the seductive and dangerous Fatima Espirito Santo, and the outrageous and unpredictable Pazos, whose efforts to linguistically impress are nothing short of hilarious. As the chaos and clouds of smoke and coke billow up behind them, Juantxo discovers hitherto untapped powers. Pako's highway credibility and sexual prowess are put to a severe test, and Konradin keeps them both sane with encyclopaedic gems from his store of useless facts. Meanwhile, many, many miles away, the church bells ring out on a sunlit banquet

Juanma Bajo Ulloa won a host of awards with his first feature Alas de Mariposa (1991), among them the Concha de Oro at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and the Goya. Outside Spain, the film won the award for Opera Prima at the Seattle International Film Festival, and the New York Critics' Prize. After the success of Alas de Mariposa, he directed the award-winning La Madre muerta (1993). He has also directed a number of music videos for Joaquin Sabina, Los Enemigos and Barricada since 1994.
 

Genre Comedy, Thriller
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 1997
Director Juanma Bajo Ulloa
Screenplay Karra Elejalde, Fernando Guillés-Cuervo, Juanma Bajo Ulloa
Director of Photography Gonzalo Berridi
Editor Pablo Blanco
Music by Bingen Mendizábel
Producers Iñaki Burutxaga, Ulrich Felsberg, Adrian Lipp
Production Companies Asegarce Zinema, Marea Films, in co-production with MGN Films, Lisbon, Road Movies Filmproduktion/Berlin
Principal Cast Maria de Medeiros, Karra Elejalde, Fernando Guillés-Cuervo, Alberto San Juan
Length 112 min, 3,064 m
Format 35 mm, color, cs
Dubbed Versions German
Original Version Spanish
Subtitled Versions English
Sound Technology Dolby SRD
With backing from Eurimages