Leonardo Sbaraglia Movies

Two strangers who have met in one another's dreams come face to face in the real world with disturbing results in this psychological thriller from Mexico. Chelo (Barbara Mori) is a successful and well-respected architect who found little satisfaction in her love life. While the men she dates cannot satisfy her, each night she dreams of a handsome man who can fulfill all her desires. Meanwhile, Dr. Marquez (Leonard Sbaraglia) is a leading heart surgeon who is engaged to marry a beautiful woman, Marcela (Marina de Tavira), but as he sleeps he's visited by terrible visions of a woman who wants to kill him. Chelo believes she can't go on without finally meeting the literal man of her dream, who she is certain is real, so she devises a plan -- she makes herself look as if she's been attacked, and goes to the police and tells them she's been beaten and raped. Chelo gives a careful description of her assailant that closely resembled the man in he dreams, and they soon present her with a suspect who matches the description -- Dr. Marquez. At the same time, when the doctor gets a look at Chelo, he's terrified as he realizes she's a dead ringer for the malevolent woman from his nightmares. Violanchelo, a.k.a. Amor, Dolor y Viceversa (aka Love, Pain and Vice-Versa) was the first feature from director Alonso Pineda-Ulloa. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A man traveling through rural Spain in search of the town where his girlfriend awaits becomes ensnared in a surreal waking nightmare in director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego's intricate thriller. Quim (Leonardo Sbaraglia) was on his way to visit his girlfriend when he stopped off at an isolated gas station for some fuel and a quick trip to the restroom. But the men's toilet is out of order, and in his haste Quim ducks into the ladies room. Upon exiting ,Quim crosses paths with a mysterious beauty named Bea (Maria Valverde). The sexual tension is as immediate as it is undeniable, and the two strangers engage in some explosive, anonymous sex right there on the bathroom sink. Recognizing the opportunity in the moment, Bea absconds with Quim's wallet and lucky lighter. Of course, it isn't long before Quim realizes what's happened, and when he subsequently spies Bea's car sitting abandoned on an unmarked road, it seems like the perfect opportunity to retrieve his personal property. Suddenly, out of the quiet country air, a shot rings out and Quim is wounded. As Quim ducks for cover nearby, he sees that Bea is also hiding from the unseen sniper. Eventually the frightened pair manages to escape their assassin's bullets and make their way to the local police. Much to their surprise, the authorities not only voice doubt about the existence of the mysterious sniper, but also cast a troublingly suspicious eye on them. Regardless of their initial skepticism, however, the police are about to discover that anyone who dares venture out on this mountainside is immediately marked for death. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Manuel Huerga teams with screenwriter Lluis Arcarazo to explore the life and death of the last man executed by the garrote in this biopic following the life of leftist Spanish bank robber and revolutionary Salvador Puig. The product of a leftist bourgeois household, Salvador (Daniel Bruehl) railed against Franco's oppressive as a young student, and soon turned to bank robbery as a means of contributing to the radical labor movement. When a cop is killed during one of the robberies and Salvador is captured, the trial to determine the young activist's fate is swift. Though Salvador does put some hope into the chance for a reprieve, his grim fate is ultimately sealed when a bomb kills Franco's president. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Eduardo Mignogna's comedy drama Cleopatra tells the tale of friendship between two women who need to reevaluate their lives. Cleo (Norma Aleandro) is having a mid-life crisis. Her nearly four-decades-old marriage is wilting as her husband is becoming an alcoholic after being out of work for two years. Her grown sons have little meaningful contact with her. She works as a teacher, but must sell makeup door-to-door in order to survive. Remembering her dreams of becoming an actress, she auditions for a new television show. While at the audition, she meets Sandra (Natalia Oreiro), a soap opera actress who is chaffing under the control of her manager/husband. The pair escape together and go on a road trip in which Sandra falls in love and reconciles with her family, while Cleo grows to accept where she is in life. Cleopatra was screened at the Montreal Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Madrid in the wake of the Spanish Civil War serves as the setting for this epic period romance, starring Leonor Watling of Talk to Her fame. Watling is cast as Elvira, a young woman still reeling from the execution of her father and the imprisonment of her politically outspoken husband, Julio (Ernesto Alterio). Desperate to make ends meet, Elvira takes a position as a maid with the mysterious Pablo (Leonardo Sbaraglia), about whom Elvira's mother-in-law (Norma Aleandro) has serious doubts. It turns out that the half-German Pablo is aiding the escape of several prominent members of the Nazi party, a fact to which Elvira is oblivious when she begins an illicit affair with him. When Julio is released from prison, tensions come to the fore for the extended family and the mysterious outsider among them. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Some people are born with good luck, but others try to attain it however they can -- and at any cost -- in this offbeat psychological thriller from Spain. Samuel Berg (Max Von Sydow) is an elderly man who lives beneath a gambling casino on an island off the Spanish coast. In Berg's world, good fortune is a commodity that can be acquired from others, and while would-be gambler Federico (Eusebio Poncela) has a genuine talent for taking good luck from those who have it, Berg's gift is even stronger, and after a long day of absorbing positive vibrations from winning gamblers, Berg steals the day's "take" from him, leaving Federico to plan his revenge. Federico becomes aware of Tomas (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a man who recently survived a plane crash, and is convinced he has even more luck than Berg can overcome; the two become partners, and Federico enters Tomas in an underground tournament designed to determine who Lady Luck smiles upon most sweetly. After Federico and Tomas win a handsome home from Alejandro (Antonio Dechent), a former bullfighter, the pair seems poised to go up against Berg and claim his luck as their own, but Sara (Monica Lopez), a police investigator, is convinced Federico and Tomas are up to no good and begins exploring their bizarre secret world. Intacto received its American premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Love and betrayal complicate a robbery gone wrong in this offbeat crime thriller shot in Argentina. Angel (Eduardo Noriega) and El Nene (Leonardo Sbaraglia) are a pair of small-time criminals hired to take part in the robbery of an armored truck organized by mobsters Nando (Carlos Roffe) and Fontana (Ricardo Bartis), who working in cahoots with the driver, El Cuervo (Pablo Echarri). Angel and El Nene are also lovers, and when the robbery goes sour and Angel is shot by the police, El Nene is enraged and opens fire on the officers, turning the heist into a bloodbath. Angel and El Nene somehow escape and go into hiding, with El Nene attempting to nurse Angel back to health. As the couple tries to avoid detection in Uruguay, El Cuervo's moll, Vivi (Dolores Fonzi), tells the police of their whereabouts under threat of torture. Meanwhile, beginning to crack under cabin fever, Angel and El Nene slip into town to visit a carnival, where El Nene's head is unexpectedly turned by Giselle (Leticia Bredice), sparking murderous jealousy in Angel. Plata Quemada was adapted from a novel by Ricardo Piglia, which was inspired by a true story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

With poignance and compassion, Carissa Carlos's gentle drama Besos en la Frente observes the heartbreaking conflict of intentions and signals between two friends with a considerable age difference between them. China Zorilla stars as the octogenarian Mercedes Arévalo, a Buenos Aires resident who in eight long decades of life has never once experienced a satisfying adult love affair or relationship. On an emotional level, Mercedes is very much still an adolescent girl. The future suddenly brightens when into her life waltzes a dashing young Uruguayan screenwriter, Sebastián Miguez (Leonardo Sbaraglia), rebounding from a romantic split and temporarily visiting the metropolis in search of new scriptwriting assignments. In time, a meaningful friendship blossoms, and Mercedes in fact invites Sebastián to move into her house. He accepts, perceiving the arrangement as innocent and harmless, but in reality, Mercedes has fallen deeply in love with her new roommate and tries to actualize her feelings with an unchecked display of physical affection. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

An unlikely pair of outlaws take to the highway and become criminal folk heroes in this satiric comedy. Jose (Hector Alterio) is a 70-year-old anarchist who deposited $15,000 in a bank 20 years ago and wants to withdraw the money; however, he doesn't have the paperwork, and the bank staff keeps giving him the runaround. So he takes drastic measures: he arrives at the bank one day with a gun, and, pointing the pistol at his head, he announces that he'll blow his brains out if he doesn't get his money. Pedro (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a 23-year-old clerk working at the bank, is unhappy with his job and his life, and he impulsively announces that Jose has taken him hostage; they end up leaving the bank with $500,000, and they hit the road with both cops and reporters following their trail. Jose and Pedro seem like an odd team at first, but friendship and respect grow between them as they travel the backroads, spending some of the money, handing some of it out to poor people along the way, and sending occasional videotaped messages to the media. They also pick up a woman named Ana (Cecilia Dopazo), whose tough demeanor is intimidating but fits the situation perfectly; Pedro soon finds himself attracted to her as she joins in their low-level crime spree. Caballos Salvajes was the debut feature from Argentinean director Marcelo Pineyro, who became one of the most acclaimed young directors in South America on the basis of this and his second film, Cenizas del Paraiso. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide