Director Antonio Hernandez’s road movie thriller Lisbon stars two of Europe’s most recognised performers: Sergi L’pez (Une liaison pornographique, Harry, He’s Here to Help) and Carmen Maura (Pedro Almod’var’s former leading lady). Joào (L’pez) is a Portuguese travelling salesman peddling video and audio tapes in the highway bars of Iberia. He is somewhere outside Madrid when he stops to offer a lift to Berta (Maura). Sparks fly between the couple, and before long they are having sex in a public toilet. Joào soon begins to wonder what he’s got himself into (Maura is carrying a gun), but he is unable to refuse this wondrous apparition and agrees to take her to Lisbon. Berta claims to be on a mission simply to clear up some financial misdeeds committed by her husband, but Joào’s sense of danger proves to be well founded. The tongue-in-cheek attitude and the perfectly judged performances of the leads make for an enjoyable and wholly unpretentious entertainment.
Spain/Argentina, 1999.
English subtitles.
Colour.
Dolby digital stereo.
99 mins.