Alejandro Martinez Movies

A boy goes on a vacation with his father and ends up taking the ride of his life in the comedy Manolito Gafotas. Manolito (David Sanchez del Rey) is a cheerful but accident-prone child who doesn't see his father very often. Dad is a truck driver usually out on a long haul, leaving Manolito at home with his mother (Adriana Ozores), grandfather (Antonio Gamero), and little brother. Hoping to make up for the time they spend apart, Dad offers to take Manolito along on his next trip and show him the ocean. Manolito eagerly agrees, but gets his father in trouble when he mentions to Mom via telephone that Dad was chatting up a waitress at a roadside diner. After their meal, Manolito hops on board a truck and heads out down the road -- but he doesn't realize he's in the wrong truck until it's too late. Manolito Gafotas was adapted from a comic strip popular in Spain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A Spanish family's seaside vacation becomes a tense, seriocomic exploration into xenophobia when they stumble across an illegal African immigrant stranded upon the beach after an accident destroyed his raft and left his traveling companion dead. When patriarch Antonio, a somewhat dim-witted taxi driver, sees the miserable Ombasi huddled around a campfire, he is immediately suspicious and frightened for his family. Unfortunately, they lose their car keys and have no choice but to remain with the mysterious foreigner, who speaks no Spanish. At first, the film takes a humorous look at the family's struggle to communicate with the stranger, but then three racist skinheads arrive and the story takes a much darker turn. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide