The film starts in Gerona 1980 , there two kiddies called Sandra and David begin a long friendship out of the ordinary . Some years later , Gerona 1989 , sixteen-year-old Sandra (Clara Lago ) and eighten-year-old David (Alvaro Cervantes) go on being adolescent friends and companions of confidences and adventures since their infancy , in which the innocence and cruelty of the children years , happened long time ago , to follow an existence with violence , and brutallity of the adults . As in their adolescence taking place a passionate sentimental initiation altering the course of their student lives . But a terrible event takes place that will leave them marked forever . Finally , Sandra and Alvaro falling in love desperately and subsequently there occurs some missings and killings . Along the way and years , they maintain their love and secrets as authentic accomplices . Meanwhile , Sandra is trying to learn English along with her lovely teacher (Mary Murray) and attempts go to UK to finish her studies , and she , finally , goes Dublin . Shortly after, their lives push to cross the threshold of a dark secret , finding out the only thing that he has never told her.
Enjoyable but downbeat drama/thriller far from ordinary , concerning a sexual obsession in which a childhood couple and once have reached adolescence suffering twisted happenings , it seems logical that their friendship leads to a deeper relationship , but things go awry . It is plenty of moving drama , nudism , emotion , rough sex , thrills , mayhem and surprise ending . This ¨El Juego del Ahorcado¨ or ¨Hanged game¨ is Manuel Gomez Pereira's return to top form , with an intelligent and engaging script which uses moving situations to give us a good movie in a high suspense and complexity and that kept you entertained for the almost two hours of duration . Regarding the complex relationship of a couple through several years , as Sandra is seriously affected by an offense , as an unpredictable event cruelly hits each one separately , then , she will become a survivor and he , the protector of her life and secrets . Flawless story with a duo of handsome protagonists , one couple of very young actors . Interesting screenplay from prestigious Spanish screen-writers : Salvador García Ruiz and Manuel Gómez Pereira himself , based on a novel written by Imma Turbau . The flick develops a lot of steamy affairs between two main roles involved into an embarrassing and disconcerting relationship . Rightly agreeable , milestone drama/thriller which neatly combines nail-biting set pieces , love scenes , entertaining situations and tension . You can find a little flaws in the story lines , there are some left unexplained and others characters end up being implausible . Nice acting by Clara Lago as the innocent and good teenager , in spite of youthful , she parades sexily at her best and more relaxed and enticing than ever . However , Alvaro Cervantes gives a worse performance than her , playing a doubtful youngster who is obsessed for Sandra and for speed and motorcycles , too . Pay attention the very well played support cast , giving portentous interpretations , as usual . Including an acceptable plethora of secondaries , such as : Adriana Ugarte , Abel Folk , Victoria Page , Mary Murray and Cristina Brondo.
It was entertaining , but briefly depressing , great actors and a super soundtrack composed by Bingen Mendizabal . Bingen composes an excellent score in intriguing and suspenseful style . And adding the following songs : Born to be wild performed by Steppenwolf ; Soy como dos , Written by Álvaro Urquijo and Enrique Urquijo performed by Los Secretos ; A quién le importa Written by Carlos García Berlanga and Nacho Canut performed by Alaska y Dinarama and Desolado performed by Pastora . Furthermore , a colorful and evocative cinematography by Juan Amoros . The motion picture was well written and directed by Manuel Gomez Pereira . The movie had Goya Nominations , such as : Goya Awards 2009 Nomine Best New Actor : Álvaro Cervantes and Best Original Score : Bingen Mendizabal . Gómez Pereira usually writes his films and occasionally for other directors as "What Makes Women Laugh?" by Joaquin Oristell who in "Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health" is screenwriter and producer ; both of them are ordinary collaborators . Pereira is an expert on comedies as ¨¨Rose sauce¨, Why do they call it love when they mean sex ?¨, ¨Mouth to mouth¨ , "All Men Are the Same" , though he also has made some drama as ¨The hanged man¨ and this ¨Between your legs¨ . His latest projects, however, tanked as "Off Key" starred by an American-all star cast but was a failure both economically and artistically or simply didn't deliver as "Atrévete y Verás" . Nowadays , he directs TV chapters as ¨Gran Reserva¨ and ¨Cheers¨ series . Rating : 6/10 . Decent Spanish thriller , though a little sad for the successive distresses happen the protagonists . The picture will appeal to Clara Lago/Alvaro Cervantes fans .
