SIFF: Spy Time

Description

In this rollicking sendup of 1960s spy films, sad-sack Adolfo is targeted by a group of thugs, leading him to discover that his sausage-maker father is actually a brilliant secret agent. Adapted from the classic Spanish comic strip by Manuel Vásquez Gallego.

Adolfo (Quim Gutiérrez, The Last Days) is in a rut. Lacking ambition and stuck in a dead-end job, he’s dumped by his beautiful girlfriend Katia (Alexandra Jimenez, Witching and Bitching) before discovering that, on top of everything else, he’s being targeted by a group of thugs led by recently escaped criminal mastermind Vasquez (Carlos Areces, I’m So Excited!). Soon finding himself cornered and with all seemingly lost, Adolfo is daringly rescued by his long-lost father Anacleto (Imanol Arias, The Liberator) who’s not the rural sausage-maker (and absentee dad) Adolfo grew up with but a brilliant secret agent and archenemy of the villainous Vasquez. With the evil mastermind increasing his thirst for vengeance and Katia pulled into his diabolical plans, father and son must overcome their issues in a desperate race against time. Adapted from Manuel Vázquez Gallego’s classic Spanish comic strip, director Javier Ruiz Caldera’s latest film is a funny, fast-paced sendup of vintage 1960s spy films given a smart, sleek Spanish twist. Sprinkled with starry cameos, Spy Time is a rollicking homage to a classic genre.

Director Biography: Javier Ruiz Caldera was born in 1976 in Barcelona and studied film at the Film School ESCAC. In 2000 he directed the short film Treite, about bullying children, which became one of the most award-winning short films in recent Spanish film history. He is also a director and editor, known for his comedies Tres Bodas De Mas (2013), and Ghost Graduation (2012).