not horrible nor great

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Antonio, a Basque terrorist, commits the ultimate error of any man in his position: he falls in love! It proves to be a fatal misjudgment in his part because he attracts the police's attention that are not looking for him. As with other men that thought they knew it all, Antonio doesn't count that Charo and her friends will be his own downfall.Charo, a young prostitute and substance abuser, also falls for the handsome Antonio. She has no idea about what he does. She is under the impression he is a photo journalist who happens to live next door to her and Vanessa's apartment. Antonio, working with two accomplices have been planning a car bomb explosion at the police headquarters. Everything goes according to plan, except that Antonio's emotions get in the way at the end.Imanol Uribe directed this emotional film that takes the viewer to see, first hand, how the terrorists operate. Mr. Uribe also understands the low lives that deal in drugs and and the users. He mixes all of them in a film that shows some raw emotion in telling the story.Carmelo Gomez does an outstanding job as Antonio. Javier Bardem, who was not as well known then is perfect as Lisardo, the junkie. Ruth Gabriel is a beautiful young actress who is not afraid to bare it all for the camera. Candela Pena is also good as Vanessa. Karra Ejalde and Elvira Minguez are seen in minor roles.Give this film a try because the talented Mr. Uribe delivers.

I read a few comments by other movies and rented it to watch it. It turned out to be a decent one. May be I missed a lot of stuff because of translation from Spanish.. Perhaps a "Lost in Translation" case. Any way it is about a terrorist who falls in love with a prostitute and the prostitute who falls in love with him, thus jeopardizing the entire mission!! The ending is a bit too melodramatic and almost expected the moment you come across the main plot... Lot of naked scenes, but then they are only semi erotic... Actually it is funny too if you can catch some subtle dark humor. (I am referring to the prostitute telling that she never lets any one have normal intercourse with her... she only allows people to see her naked...). I give it 6 out of 10.

Dias Contados (Running Out of Time) is a movie about love, lust, desire, hate, death, and regret, that takes place in Madrid, Spain. Antonio (Carmelo Gomez) is in town with two others on personal business. Charo (Ruth Gabriel) and Vanessa (Candela Pena) are two roommates with a laundry list of issues. Lisardo (Javier Bardem) is a local junkie. Portugues (Chacho Carreras) is a drug dealer trying to evade the cops. Lourdes (Elvira Minquez) is one of Antonio's companions to Madrid, who loves him far more than she gets in return. Throw in a husband of Charo getting out of jail, and edgy cops trying to bust Portugues; and you have an amazing movie that should've gotten much more attention here in the states. The performances in this film are much better than most you see by actors who receive far more attention. Especially Ruth Gabriel, who gives one of the most memorable performances by a young actress (18 or 19) I've seen. Carmelo Gomez is a leading man who should be a household name here, and would be if we respected international films, the same way they do ours. They both give Oscar worthy performances in a film that will definitely leave an impression on you. Recommended for those who liked Dirty Pretty Things, or 21 grams.

Touching the terror topic in Spain (maybe all around the world these days after Sept 11) is somehow dangerous. Uribe probably knows this and thus focuses the plot on human relationships presenting two different character types: joint by marginality we can find an ETA activist (Carmelo Gómez) going to Madrid to prepare a bomb attack and, on the other hand, a group of really marginal characters that represent the lowest class and conditions in a big metropolis such as Madrid; a couple of prostitutes (Ruth Gabriel and Candela Peña)and an incredibly played junkie called Lisardo(in according to my opinion best role ever played by the now worldwide famous Javier Bardem). Apart from the fact that the plot of the movie is well sketched and the characters quite credible (although Carmelo Gómez's character is probably not as well presented as the rest), this movie is worth-a-watch just for Bardem himself. After this, any of Bardem films are interesting, but none of his performances were better than this.