''Días contados'' (English title: ''Running Out of Time''; literally: ''Numbered Days'') is a 1994 Spanish

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed and written by

Imanol Uribe Imanol Uribe (born 28 February 1950) is a Basque Spanish screenwriter and film director. He won the Goya Award for Best Director and Best Screenplay for the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time''. Biography Born in San Salvador on 28 February ...

. It features

Carmelo Gómez Carmelo Gómez Celada (born 2 January 1962) is a Spanish actor. He is the recipient of two Goya Awards, for best supporting actor in '' The Method'' and best leading actor in '' Running Out of Time''. A very popular actor in 1990s Spanish cinem ...

Ruth Gabriel Ruth Sánchez Bueno (born 10 July 1975), better known as Ruth Gabriel, is a Spanish actress. Biography Ruth Sánchez Bueno was born in San Fernando (province of Cádiz) on 10 July 1975, daughter of actor Ismael Abellán and writer . Her aunt ...

Candela Peña María del Pilar Peña Sánchez (born 14 July 1973), professionally known as Candela Peña, is a Spanish actress. Since her film debut in the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time'', she has had a lengthy film career. She won the Goya Award for ...

, and

Javier Bardem Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In a career spanning over three decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, tw ...

, among others. It is based on the novel of the same name by

Juan Madrid Juan Madrid (born 1947, in Málaga) is a Spanish writer, journalist and script writer. Biography He studied in Madrid and gained a degree in Contemporary History from the University of Salamanca. He has written for Cambio 16 since 1974, and this ...

Plot

Antonio, a brazen, individualistic

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

terrorist, travels with two fellow cell members, Carlos and Lourdes to

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 ...

, where they intend to carry out a

terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war a ...

on a police station. Just like Lourdes, with whom he shares a complex romantic liaison, Antonio is caught in a downward spiral of disenchantment and despondency with respect to the organization and the life he has led so far. He moves into the area under the guise of an unassuming photographer for the

press Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of ''The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, California ...

, and finds himself falling for his neighbor, Charo, a naive prostitute with an impending drug problem who is unaware of Antonio's activities. She reciprocates, and Antonio uses her whimsical desire to have their first tryst in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

as an excuse to flee Madrid right after he shoots a police officer. Meanwhile, matters become complicated when Antonio's identity as a terrorist is made public and Charo's sleazy, drug-addicted acquaintance Lisardo, incidentally an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

, gives Antonio's identity away to corrupt police officer Rafa. The film ends on a tragic note as the

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

(containing 100 kg of explosives) and the police car carrying Charo haplessly converge in front of the police station. Fuelled by his love, a self-destructive streak, or both, Antonio follows the car to the station gate right as Carlos presses the detonator.

Cast

Production

The film is an Aiete Films and Ariane Films production.

was barely eighteen years old at the time of filming. The film contains several nude scenes of the young actress, who insisted on filming them in the presence of the crew members, in order to give the sequences the greatest authenticity.

Reception

''Días contados'' was nominated for

Goya Awards The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...

in 19 categories and won for the following: * Best Actor (

) * Best Director (

) * Best Editing (Teresa Font) * Best Film * Best New Actress (

) * Best Screenplay – Adapted (

) * Best Special Effects (

Reyes Abades Reyes Abades (25 July 1949 – 1 February 2018) was a Spanish specialist in special effects. He won nine Goya Awards. Abades worked on more than 300 productions. He contributed to the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1992 Summer Olympics in ...

) * Best Supporting Actor (

)

References

External links