Luger

a bloodbath on a bus all-out mayhem black humor bone-breaking car repair shop crime intrigue criminals czarny humor friends to the death life on the line Nazis pawn shop Spanish job stolen ride tracksuit vintage Luger violence

Luger

Spanish festival of violence

Two petty criminals are tasked with retrieving a stolen car, only to find a valuable gun in the trunk that other gangsters are after. A brutal Spanish action thriller laced with dark humor, in the vein of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie.

Rafa and Toni are small-time crooks working for Ángela, a lawyer who skillfully bends the law to suit her own purposes. Their latest job seems as simple as a punch to the jaw: recover a stolen car belonging to one of their employer’s clients. But there is something in the trunk that will send the plot in an unexpected direction, something that definitely should not be left so carelessly in a parked car. It is a rare and legendary German Luger P08, a relic of World War II. It is worth a fortune, and plenty of thugs would love to get their hands around its grip.

The Spanish “Luger” is a raw, grim, yet hilarious thriller that shows the filmmakers have done their homework when it comes to the cinema of Tarantino and Ritchie, as well as older masters such as De Palma and Coppola. The screenplay throws its characters straight into the thick of the action and never lets up until its bitter finale. Everything unfolds over the course of a single day, during which the characters’ lives are turned upside down. This is stylish, razor-sharp cinema, fully aware of its genre roots, while also having something worthwhile to say about a world where loyalty is far rarer than gunshot wounds. “Luger” has the energy of an amphetamine-fuelled giant crashing into a warehouse full of explosives, yet it remains a film made with style and a sure hand.

“Luger” is the feature debut of Bruno Martín, who also wrote the screenplay with Santiago Taboada and edited the film. David Sainz stars as Rafa and Mario Mayo as Toni, alongside Ángel Acero, Ana Turpin and Ramiro Alonso. The film began its festival run in 2025 at Fantastic Fest in Austin and was subsequently screened at, among others, the European Fantastic Film Festival in Strasbourg, Sitges, Isla Calavera and Sombra Festival. It has also received several awards and accolades, including a Special Mention as part of the Next Wave Award at Fantastic Fest and the Crossovers Prize in Strasbourg, confirming that Spanish action cinema is not only a force to be reckoned with internationally, but knows how to play its cards, too.