According
to in-film news reports, tourism in Andalusia is at an all-time high, but so
are unemployment claims. How very Spain. Romano the mob kingpin can relate to
both stories. Business is way down at the restaurants he controls, because his
former protégé Toro is steering tourists away from the restaurants he controls
during his work-release as a cab driver. Toro’s brother López is still part of
Romano’s syndicate, but he has been skimming more than a few paella customers.
When López’s luck runs out, his brother will reluctantly risk his early parole
to help him in Kike Maíllo’s Toro (trailer here), which screens
during the AFI Silver Theatre’s Underworld retrospective of crime films from around the world.
There
was something fishy about the night Toro was busted and his partner was shot
dead by the cops. López was also with them, but he walked away clean. Five
years later, Toro has turned his back on crime, driving tourists (away from
Romano’s establishments) and seriously dating an understanding school teacher,
until the midnight hour.
As
usual, López messes up everything. Toro probably would not have gotten involved
had Romano not abducted his niece, Diana. He hardly knows her, but he knows she
is a good kid. What begins as a rescue mission evolves into an exercise in
payback when Toro learns that bullet from five years ago was really meant for
him. He is so well acquainted with Romano (and vice versa), his vendetta will
inevitably get very ugly.
The
fundamental structure of screenwriters Rafael Cobos & Fernando Navarro’s
narrative is in keeping with long-established gangster movie conventions, but
it gets vicious on a personal level in ways Hollywood would not be comfortable
with. However, if you can handle a spot of violence, it sure is slick and
pacey. Toro might not do much for tourism,
but Maíllo capitalizes on the region’s distinctive modernist architecture,
particularly the long, circular internal and external staircases that seem to
be a hallmark of Andalusian Brutalism.
As
Toro, Mario Casas is a bit vanilla in the first act, but he seethes like a
champ when his character gets riled up. Even diehard fans of Spanish cinema
have probably never seen Luis Tosar as sleazy as he is playing López. Teenage
Claudia Canal shows future movie star potential as the tomboyish Diana, while
the veteran thesp José Sacristán chews the scenery like he owns it as the
despicable Romano.
