The Contestant (2007 film)

The Contestant (Spanish: Concursante) is a 2007 Spanish black comedy film directed by Rodrigo Cortés in his directorial debut feature. It stars Leonardo Sbaraglia.

Plot

The plot follows a lecturer on economic history (Martín Circo Martín) who wins the biggest prize ever (a set of prizes valued in €3 million) in a television game show in Spain, only to find out that the tax authorities want to keep a large part of the prize and he has no way to pay off his debts.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Lazonafilms, Continental, Nephilim Producciones, and Filmax and it had the participation of TVE and TVG. Shooting locations included A Coruña.

Release

The film screened at the 10th Málaga Film Festival on 11 March 2007. Distributed by Filmax, it was released theatrically in Spain on 16 March 2007.

Reception

Jonathan Holland of Variety considered that Cortés "fails to take the premise anywhere interesting, but the pic has a madcap, contempo energy that could find it offshore fans".

Pere Vall of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting an electric performance by Sbaraglia as the best thing about the film.

Accolades

See also

• List of Spanish films of 2007

References