El Niño (2014)

A small-time trafficker working in the Gibraltar Straits.

Director:

Daniel Monzón

Writers:

Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Daniel Monzón

Stars:

Luis Tosar, Jesús Castro, Eduard Fernández

13 wins & 40 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luis Tosar	...	Jesús
Jesús Castro	...	Niño
Eduard Fernández	...	Sergio
Sergi López	...	Vicente
Bárbara Lennie	...	Eva
Jesús Carroza	...	Compi
Mariam Bachir	...	Amina
Juan Motilla	...	Manolo
Moussa Maaskri	...	Rachid
Saed Chatiby	...	Halil
Ian McShane	...	Inglés
María García	...	Marifé
Abel Mora	...	Hombre del Puerto
Ales Furundarena	...	Juez Instructor
Somaya Taoufiki	...	Amiga de Amina

Storyline

El Niño is a young boy who lives in La Línea de la Concepción, close to Rock of Gibraltar, repairing and testing motorboats. After a night of party with his friend El Compi, they meet Halil, a young Muslim who has an uncle, Rachid, a drug dealer. Convinced by El Compi, El Niño accepts to be a drug mule, crossing it from África to Spain in a motorboat. In the opposite side of the law is Jesús, a veteran police officer who, helped by his partner Eva, is looking for El Inglés, an important drug dealer who operates in the Rock of Gibraltar.

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Plot Keywords:

gibraltar | two word title | drug trafficking | speedboat | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Spain France

Language:

Spanish Arabic English

Release Date:

29 August 2014 (Spain)

Also Known As:

9 mil

Filming Locations:

Gibraltar

Box Office

Budget:

€6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

€2,915,634 (Spain), 29 August 2014, Wide Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Telecinco Cinema, Ikiru Films, Vaca Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Eva checks the bank accounts and finds out that there's something she can't check, the warning graphics have a typo misspelling "Juridiction" instead of "Jurisdiction".

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Connections

Referenced in Estrenos Críticos: Torrente 5, El Corredor del Laberinto... (2014)

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Soundtracks

Niño sin miedo
Written by India Martínez, Riki Rivera and David Santisteban
Performed by India Martínez feat. Rachid Taha

User Reviews

Flawed thriller

EL NINO is a flawed Spanish thriller from expert director Daniel Monzon (THE KOVAK BOX) who creates a stylish and fine-looking movie saddled with, unfortunately, a somewhat meandering and overlong plot. The narrative clocks in at around two hours and fifteen minutes in length, but at least forty-five minutes of that running time could readily have been excised in order to make a better paced, more exciting film.

The setting is Gibraltar, which looks exceptionally beautiful thanks to the cinematography, and the subject is the drug smuggling route to Morocco and back. There's a tableau of characters, the best of whom are the investigating drug agents led by Luis Tosar (SLEEP TIGHT), but the bad news is that they're off-screen for long stretches of time, leaving the film in the hands of a less experienced cast. Instead we follow youthful drug smuggler Nino and his attempts to make a fortune from the trade.

The problem the film has is that Nino just isn't a very interesting character and the guy playing him is a bit wooden. He's very self-centred and out for what he can get, and the actor just doesn't have the charisma to make him likable at all. A romantic sub-plot between him and a Moroccan girl is almost unwatchable, it's so dull. Monzon does shoot a handful of chase scenes typically involving boats and helicopters which are expertly done, so it's a shame he couldn't focus more on the thrills rather than the padding; if he'd done so then EL NINO was shaping up to be a minor classic of its genre. As it stands, it's just average.