800 Bullets (800 Balas)

Color, NR (mature themes, violence, sexual situations), 124 min., DVD and VHS $24.95 each, Spanish with English subtitles

DVD: featurette

Street: March 15, Prebook: Feb. 22

First Run: L, Oct. 2004, <$1 mil.

Cast: Sancho Garcia (The Crime of Father Amaro), Luis Castro (The Trip), Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), Angel de Andres (In Praise of Older Women)

TLA

Carlos (Castro), a 12-year-old boy with a harried businesswoman mother (Maura), skips a ski trip to visit his grandfather (Garcia), who works at Texas, Hollywood, a decrepit western movie theme park. There the boy befriends his relative's motley bunch of fake cowboy pals, and eventually joins them in trying to save the park when it's threatened by developers. De la Iglesia, the bad boy Spanish filmmaker behind Dance With the Devil and the recent Common Wealth, tries something more family-oriented here, but he just can't shake his affection for over-the-top theatrics or outrageousness. The result is a loving tip of the sombrero to spaghetti westerns and the magic of movies that is far from G-rated, complete with shootouts, familial strife and unexpected sexually related episodes. De la Iglesia's cult following might be surprised to discover the director's previously untapped sweet side, and they will get a kick out of the film's more offbeat elements, inside references and jokes. Put 800 Bullets in the foreign section with the director's other efforts, but also tap into the audience hungry for western titles.

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