''Dioses y perros'' () is a 2014 Spanish drama film directed by David Marqués and Rafael Montesinos. It stars Hugo Silva and

Megan Montaner Megan Gracia Montaner (born 21 August 1987) is a Spanish actress and former model. She is known for her roles in television shows ''El secreto de Puente Viejo, The Secret of Puente Viejo'', ''Gran Hotel (TV series), Grand Hotel'' and ''Sin identi ...

Plot

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

tinged with

black humor Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

elements, the plot tracks the plight of Pasca, a man from

Vallecas Vallecas was a municipality of Spain that disappeared as such in 1950, when its annexation to the municipality of Madrid took place. Nowadays, the territory is roughly occupied by two districts: Puente de Vallecas (population 240,917) and V ...

working as a boxing

sparring Sparring is a form of training common to many combat sports. It can encompass a range of activities and techniques such as punching, kicking, grappling, throwing, wrestling or submission work dependent on style. Although the precise form varies, ...

and also taking care of his younger brother Toni. Pasca develops a relation with Adela, a lively young teacher and newcomer to the neighborhood.

Cast

Production

The screenplay is based on a story by Jaime Martínez Balmaseda. It was penned by David Marqués and Rafael Calatayud Cano. ''Dioses y perros'' is a Nadie es Perfecto PC production, and it had support from ICAA, IVAC,

Canal Nou Nou (, "nine"), previously known as Canal Nou ("channel nine"), was a Valencian free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Radiotelevisió Valenciana (RTVV). It was the corporation's flagship channel, featuring general ...

and Audiovisual SGR. Filming wrapped on 4 October 2013. Shooting locations included

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Release

The film was presented at the

Málaga Film Festival The Málaga Festival, formerly Málaga Spanish Film Festival (FMCE), is an annual film festival held in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. The festival was established to promote Spanish cinema and help disseminate information about Spanish films. Since ...

on 25 March 2014. Distributed by Festival Films, it was theatrically released in Spain on 10 October 2014.

Reception

Andrea G. Bermejo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that the film simply "dives into the shit of its characters" to bring some humor, gaining in originality with the romantic plot pertaining Megan Montaner, who performs a "credible" posh woman from Cantabria. Summing it up, Bermejo underscored the film to be a "tragicomedy with punch". Mirito Torreiro of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is a Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó ...

'' also rated it 3 out of 5 stars, considering that, despite seemingly having everything it takes to be a small masterpiece, the film "does not quite come together because of an ending that is not only predictable, but also very improvable".

References