Basque writer-director Borja Cobeaga is having himself quite a year. First out of the gate he served as a co-writer on
Spanish Affair, a little comedy that became the top grossing Spanish film of all time on its 2014 release. So there's that. And then there's the matter of his
Negociador (
Negotiator), Cobeaga's third directorial effort in which he tackled a notoriously thorny subject - the secret negotiations between government representatives and Basque separatist group ETA - did it as a comedy, and ended up judged the top Basque film of the 2014 San Sebastian Film Festival. So, yes, monstrous commercial and critical successes in the same year aint so bad.
Ramon Barea stars as the disheveled negotiator at the center of the story - a role that won him raves after the Spanish premiere - and with the arrival of the first trailer for the upcoming theatrical release of the film it's not at all hard to see why critics were so taken with the film in general and Barea in particular. Cobeaga shares a producer (Nahikari Ipina) with
Timecrimes helmer Nacho Vigalondo and while they work generally with very different subject matter it's not hard at all to see a sort of kindred spirit at work in how both helmers blend quirk and more grounded elements.
No subtitles, sadly, but take a look at the trailer below.