User reviews

A great and very entertaining throwback to those "quinqui" movies of the 70s and 80s done right. Good performances, good enough story and great pacing and development make for a highly recommended viewing.

What a fun ride this was.

The characters were great, the acting superb, the story was great. Transported you to 1978 Spain immediately and made you forget the film was shot in 2020.

Between Cell 211, El Niño, and now this? I'm excited to see what comes next from Monzón.

Hollywood could take a hint. The film is full of heart, yet it gives you all the chases, tension, laughs and gunfights you're looking for.

I highly recommend it. This one deserves international attention.

Trivial film at high levels and with a very forced plot, which however entertains and fascinates by making you become attached to all the characters and making you hope only for the best for them. So on a superficial level the film is very beautiful, but if one goes to look deeper the film is very weak and forced.

A smashing Spanish film perfectly recreating a feel of the late 1970s. Whilst the protagonists are ultimately criminals, one but cannot like all of them in one way or another. I strong insight into the characters and the evolution of a bullied introvert who finds new "family" and purpose in the local criminal gang. The writing and reproduction of the 1970s is superb. Despite being essentially a crime-spree film, many moments, and particularly the end, are deeply moving.

A remarkable and highly recommended film for action lovers , being stunningly directed by Daniel Monzon. Thrilling and thought-provoking look at youthful delinquency in Spain of the 70s. Some young criminals from the city's Chinatown, are immersed in an unstoppable career of thefts, violence and bank robberies. It is the story in which Nacho (Marcos Ruiz) grows up, crossing the line between good and evil, between justice and injustice. Adaptation of the novel by Javier Cercas, it results to be a nice Spanish thriller/action film featuring a newcomer cast , interesting screenplay and thrilling story ; dealing with a small-time traffickers and crooks in Gerona 1978. Introverted Gerona student Nacho meets two delinquents, Tere (Begoña Vargas) and Zarco (Chechu Salgado) from the city's Chinatown and gets caught up in a summer onslaught of burglaries and hold ups that will change his life. What begins as a small romance Nacho (Marcos Ruiz) and Tere (Begoña Vargas) leads a teenage victim of bullying to change friends and spend a summer of robberies, fun and much more.

This exciting film packs romance, noisy action , thrills , emotion , drama , car chases and good pace. The movie takes place in 1978, year of the death of Pope John Paul I, there's a slow start and at the end it seems like several movies in one . Its emphasis is on class and social position and how the law treats criminals from the upper classes differently than those from poverty from lower classes . The somber tone of what begins as a film about high school life is unexpectedly altered with a nail-biting ending pursuit. This adds up to the story of a narrow escape from a ruined life. This is one of the most ambitious action thrillers ever from Spain , with spectacular action scenes concerning delinquents who execute violent crimes. But the main difference with all the films from the 70s and 80s is that they starred real criminals ,such as El Torete or Juan Moreno Cuenca alias El Vaquilla , telling their lives like a legend , as Vaquilla was born in prison where his mother was imprisoned . The best one was ¨Yo El Vaquilla¨ is one of several movies dealing with youth delinquency in Spain during the 70s and early 80s, along with ¨Perros Callejeros I¨ and ¨II¨, ¨ Los Ultimos Golpes Del Torete¨, ¨, mostly realized by Jose Antonio De La Loma , ¨Navajeros , "Colegas", "El Pico 1¨ , 2" , ¨La Estanquera De Vallecas¨ by Eloy de la Iglesia and especially ¨Deprisa , Deprisa¨ by Carlos Saura, 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 . His style is pretty much urban and realistic as well in the atmosphere as in the fresh dialog and attempted to take a position in favor of outcast 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 and offering commentaries on the injustice of a system that condemns some to lives of crime and saves others before they stray too far.

Well produced Ignacio Salazar-Simpson, Javier Ugarte, Mercedes Gámero, Maria Contreras and intelligently written by Jorge Guerricaechevarría , Alex De La Iglesia's ordinary, and director Daniel Monzón himself ; it marks a new hit , getting a big success. The film was one of the most anticipated in a year where Spanish cinema should beat box office records. Very good acting by young newcomers Marcos Ruíz, Begoña Vargas and Chechu Salgado. Being finely accompanied by a fine plethora of familar secondaries, such as: Santiago Molero, Pep Tosar, Santiago Molero, Ainhoa Santamaría, Carlos Serrano, Pep Tosar, Elisabet Casanovas, Estefanía de los Santos Although overlong , it lasts more than two hours and some , the picture is very well realized , it has splendid action scenes with expert stunts and similarly to a USA production but without C. G. I .

Evocative and atmospheric musical score by music by Derby Motoreta's Burrito Kachimba. The soundtrack is enjoyable , fits perfectly with the environment, including songs at the time. Appropriate cinematography by Carlos Gusi (Torrente , Box 507, El Niño) who photographs wonderfully the exteriors and interiors , being shot on location in Gerona, Cataluña, España. The motion picture was well directed by Daniel Monzon , a former cinema reviewer , he undertakes a skill and agreeable filmmaking with some spectacular images such as the motorboat and helicopter scenes . Daniel Monzón was offered financing if he shot the movie in English but he refused because the story didn't make sense in English . He previously directed sword and witchery/fantasy (Heart of warrior) , suspense (The Kovak box), and wrote the thriller titled ¨Desvio a Paraiso¨ ; his greatest hit was the prison movie , ¨Celda 211¨ with Luis Tosar . Fox-distributed Telecinco Cinema production "El Niño," part of Studiocanal's Toronto slate , it has punched the best opening frame for any Spanish film this year . Along with fellow thriller "La Isla Minima" by Alberto Rodríguez , result to be two of the best recent works in Spanish cinema . Rating Las leyes de la frontera (2021) : 7/10. Better than average . Indispensable and essential to see the genre quinqui fans . Well worth watching . The yarn will appeal to action enthusiasts and thriller genre fans .

I put the movie on without high expectations, Netflix recommended it. The start is great and I got hooked immediately. It's just great fun from the start. The scenes from Spain are gorgeous and really authentic from the 70s. The movie has it all: action, humor, cinematography, good characters... I'll admit that they can be superficial at times, but it doesn't matter. I actually liked the title song a lot as well, it goes very well with the movie.

I go to Catalonia frequently so perhaps I'm biased - but I just loved to see this.

If your whole life, you have been belittled, bullied, not being taken seriously by other your own family or anyone else ... you will be quite susceptible to almost anything that show interest in you. Be it a woman and/or her friends, that may or may not be criminal (though to be fair it is quite obvious and not really a question that is tough to answer).

Having said that, the main character is very well drawn and his circumstances make you feel for and with him. It is throwback and goes back to a time, where everything was easier ... and tougher at the same time. Growing up back then had its own issues, but you did not have social media to mock and make fun of you. I can only imagine the level of bullying that is going on in todays schools.

But that is a side note in the whole story. Because what we do get is a twisted love story. A very complicated one - one where two persons that like each other seem unable to find each other. No pun intended ... but many great love stories had the biggest obstacles, so maybe that is a good sign ... and maybe not.

Really well done and well acted, this gives you an enticing and gripping thriller ...

This is another typical netflix movie that checks off all the boxes once again.....of course the main character has to be a bullied kid. Of course the main girl has to be someone who is unconventional looking. Of course there has to be a "twist" at the end which doesn't reveal anything relevant or important. This movie was so seriously unbelievable, everything that happened made me roll my eyes, it all came off as so by the numbers and predictable.

I watched this movie on Netflix today. It's a interesting story with good characters that we're interested to follow all along... you should get a look at it and you shouldn't be disappointed !

This movie may or may not touch you deeply, depending on what you carry inside, but it is deeply true to life. It did touch me.

Sorry, imdb does not accept less than 150 characters so I have to add this nonsense filler text.

If there was a database about bullying topic films, this one should belong to the top ten. I have not seen all of them of course, but this one is very well made ; directed and acted, close to what really happens to many kids and teenagers now, in 2021, with the help of social networks, young people who often commit suicide. In this feature, it is not question of Facebook or any other kind of network, it did not exist at the time this story happens, the eighties. But the spirit is nearly the same, the basic spirit, because it is not question of only bullying. It is not a film noi nor real crime flick either, but a social study thru the prism of deliquency, street hoodlums, petty ones, not real gangsters. It is obviously inspired by Marty Scorcese 's stuff, but it is not BRONX TALE either. Bob De Niro made it but Marty Scorcese was always above his shoulder. Very touching ending.

If you ever watched cine Kinki, equivalent of film noir with real crooks as actors from the early eighties, this film actually betters most of them. The advantage of having proper actors is that, ironically, makes it more multi-layered, you almost fall for such intriguing baddies cos they act so unbelievably well. Being a cine kinki fan, I was initially reticent about seein this, thank god I did, cos the journey the Gafitas goes through, from bullied kind boy to basically a full blown robber -and almost killer- inspired by his kinki Dulcinea, a girl next door if she were hotter than jalapeños and next door were a crack house, is mindblowing. An absolute must watch, like Gafitas, won´t leave you indiferent.

Top of the line character development with a strong ending. What more can we ask for? Usually one or the other are absent. This is a great story which spans a man's life, focusing on his recollections of what happened when he was younger. 99% of the film is set in his past.

His young self is dropped into circumstance and he goes through changes from being the target of bullies to believable and absolutely satisfying heights. When I say heights, it's in the sense of growing in himself, not necessarily in the sense of good fortune for example.

This has a completely relatable protagonist, a powerful romance and a number of edge of seat tension scenes as well as action scenes.

I knew after the first minute of this it would be strong, together and satisfying. Outstanding film making from the team.

Very correct technically, with a team of actors that fulfills what is required of them. But both the script and the direction are excessively topical and predictable, it shows professionalism, but nothing that is shown to us (melancholy story of lost loves and betrayed friendships) ceases to be an obvious copy of much more brilliant films or novels.

At least it is necessary to value that the director has known where to find inspiration and that the direction shows some more taste than usual. It should also be positively valued that it is free of political indoctrination, quotas or the usual ideological correctness which more and more seems required must permeat every scene. Here the authors have studied how other greater authors have entertained and excited and have decided to apply, although without excessive imagination, what they have learned.

In short, at times boring, often predictable, with a taste of what has been already done better before, and it doesn't work emotionally near as deep as intended, but a decent job that is viewed with interest.