A golpes (2005) Poster

(2005)

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6/10
Interesting look about female youthful of lower class in Madrid barrios of the 2000s
ma-cortes2 November 2013
Natalia Verbeke as María , Juana Acosta as Juanita , María Vázquez as Vicky , Marian Álvarez as Mena and Zay Nuba as Nitzia live on the outskirts of Madrid and their future is not presented very encouraging . The five young people decide then get what they want without stopping to think about the ethics of means to achieve their aims , as they execute robberies on jewelry and mall . But the events go wrong and there takes place a disagreeable final . The main starring is Maria , well played by Natalia Verbeke , a cab women who wants to progress by dedicating to female boxing into ¨Mosca or Fly¨ category .

¨A Golpes¨ is one of several movies dealing with Spanish youth and their particularities such as : jobless , sex , drugs , and delinquency , all of them interwoven with a story about the boxing world . This genre achieved splendor during the 70s and early 80s such as ¨Perros Callejeros I and II¨, ¨Perras Callejeras¨ , ¨ Los Ultimos Golpes Del Torete¨, ¨Yo el Vaquilla¨, mostly realized by Jose Antonio De La Loma , ¨Navajeros , "Colegas", "El Pico 2" by Eloy De La Iglesia and especially ¨Deprisa , Deprisa¨ by Carlos Saura and later ¨La Estanquera De Vallecas ¨ , among others . These films were notorious in the years of the Spanish transition to democracy including provoking and polemic issues and played by unknown young people . Drugs , delinquency, and generational problems are the habitual subjects in these films and specially dedicated to the underworld of heroin and a very realistic look at drug addiction . In ¨A Golpes¨ there is a similar premise , as some unfortunate as well as hapless young women living hardly in Madrid streets , then all of them carry out a heist on a jewelry and a mall with unexpected consequences . We see their troubles growing in such streets , slums or "barrio" from Vallecas and Madrid outskirts and some fine locations . The director creates a sort of Spanish Neo-Realism by tackling the Spanish way of life of a group of young women in the streets from a sociological point of view ; being rightly portrayed the city of Madrid of the 2000s , in the so-called popular neighbourhoods . Juan Vicente Cordoba shows the ugliness of those "barrios" , toughness and cold existence along with some nice boxing scenes and a lot of sex scenes . The main cast is pretty good , including young actresses who subsequently would have a notorious careers cinema as TV , such as Natalia Verbeke of Doctor Mateo , Juana Acosta of Hospital Central , Zay Nuba of Vida Mancha and Marian Alvarez who won prize in San Sebastian for La Herida . Support cast is frankly well such as Alfredo Villa as Mariano , Carlos Kaniowsky as Padre de María , Javier Pereira as Patrulla , Andrés Gertrúdix as Pipo and brief acting by the famous Miguel Ángel Silvestre , El Duke, as Yuri .

Well produced by Enrique Cerezo , a nice producer who financed several successes such as ¨Juana La Loca¨ , ¨The long kill¨, "The Final Inquiry" , ¨Witching & Bitching" , and recently ¨Argento's Dracula 3D¨ , among others . The motion picture was professionally directed by Vicente Cordoba though with some flaws and gaps . Juan Vicente Cordoba is a good Spanish movies director , he began working in cinema in the 90s filming shorts , and realized a few films as El Rey Tuerto and Aunque no Sepas and A Golpes results to be his last movie .
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6/10
Interesting work
alachlach31 August 2006
The first half of this movie may be tasteless: there is this bunch of girls and boys living in the working class suburbs of Madrid around the boxing club, some action, some sex, not going nowhere, but soon the characters begin to sharpen, the story takes shape around persons and groups. One can expect things to get bad in any moment but psychology takes over easy violence on the screen and the second half is a much more captivating linear part, where the characters have more convincing roles. Nathalia Verbeke is amazing, once again!, in a new and physically demanding role. Can't keep from comparing her with Hilary Swank performance in Million Dollar Baby.
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2/10
Bad one
dcldan2 June 2007
The story is about a bunch of girls that live in the worst part of a suburbia city. Knowing that her only way to survive is the criminal way, they will not be frightened by the dangers of this kind of life, and love/hate will be their motor. This story mixed with the story of Fran, an amateur boxer and the head of the local gang is the main plot of this movie. The story is very incoherent and, most of times, quite stupid and boring. It is not interesting and the characters are totally contradictory, they react strangely and it is clear that neither the script nor the actors are good. Some claim that this movie talks about the life in suburban zones, but it is so far from reality that this is just impossible to realize for common spectator. At any moment there's the slightest point of improvement and, many times, you become desperate due to the lack of common sense and intelligence of all the characters, there's lots of films everywhere, if possible, choose another one.
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