As fresh and frenetic as the times it portrays, director Chus Gutierrez’s comedy takes the old struggling rock band motif and gives it context—the transition of Spain from dictatorship to democracy. The film is set during the build-up to Spain’s failed coup d’etat of February 1981, at the time of Madrid’s movida, a period of cultural rebellion that now makes many Spanish fortysomethings (including the director, probably) go all dewy-eyed. El Calentito is the name of a typical movida nightspot, where the virginal Sara (Veronica Sanchez) watches a concert by punk band Las Siux. Following an altercation with her boyfriend, Sara ends up being offered an audition with the band. Doe-eyed TV star Sanchez does a decent job as Sara, and there’s an outstanding performance from Nuria Gonzallez as a transvestite who runs the El Calentito.