Winning Streak (Spanish: The Pelayos) is a 2012 Spanish comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Eduard Cortés. It stars an ensemble cast that includes Daniel Brühl, Lluís Homar, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Eduard Fernández and Blanca Suárez. It is based on the exploits of the García-Pelayo family. The film premiered on 21 April 2012 at the 15th Málaga Film Festival.[1]
| Winning Streak | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Spanish | The Pelayos |
| Directed by | Eduard Cortés |
| Written by | Eduard Cortés Piti Español |
| Produced by | Daniel Hernández Loris Omedes |
| Starring | Daniel Brühl Lluís Homar Miguel Ángel Silvestre Eduard Fernández Blanca Suárez |
| Cinematography | David Omedes |
| Edited by | Koldo Idígoras |
| Music by | Micka Luna |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Languages |
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| Box office | $1,969,150 (Spain) |
Background
editThe film is based on the life story and multifaceted personality of Gonzalo García-Pelayo Segovia, a Spanish citizen who had a diverse career as a film director,[2] TV host, music producer, professional gambler, games expert, sponsor for professional poker players and creator of the online CRYPT-FIAT platform Mind.Capital,[3] dedicated to buying and selling in the cryptocurrency exchange market.[4][5]
Pelayo's great leap to fame came when he developed a legal statistics-and-betting system that allowed him to win more than 1.2 million euros in the game of roulette, in the early 1990s, with the help of his family.[2][6] García-Pelayo is currently remembered throughout the world for having made "jump the bank" in different world casinos with the mentioned system.[7] During the 1990s, "the Pelayos" were the public enemy of different casinos inside and outside Europe. His formula led them to earn as much as 13 million pesetas in a single night, something that did not sit well with some of the big casinos: in Las Vegas, the group was even threatened at gunpoint to stop them playing.[7]
Years after making the headlines, Pelayo and his family chose to bet on online poker, launching an academy where they explained new methods that helped win it.[7] One of his school's apprentices, Carlos Mortensen, became a poker world champion in 2001,[7] sponsored by Pelayo. However, according to Pelayo, the new gaming regulations were limiting the profits, and as a result "all the good players we had decided to leave".[7] As of 2017 Pelayo is still banned from entering casinos in France and Denmark.[7]
Plot synopsis
editGonzalo García Pelayo has been trying for years to work out a system to legally win money in a local casino, which is run by the infamous The Beast. When he realizes he has succeeded in doing so, using a system based on wheel bias, he drags his family in to help — son Iván, daughter Vanessa, their cousins Marcos and muscle-bound Alfredo, and family friend Balón.
Driven by Ivan's desire to give his father a decent old age, the gang sets to work, at first unsuccessfully. But when they start winning, the Beast's suspicions are aroused, and he puts a private detective onto them. Alfredo compromises the plan by getting involved with croupier Ingrid, who is summarily fired by the Beast. Next, Iván starts a romance with Chinese wild girl Shui, whose friends turn out to be quite handy later on.
Cast
edit- Daniel Brühl as Iván
- Lluís Homar as Gonzalo García Pelayo
- Miguel Ángel Silvestre as Alfredo
- Eduard Fernández as The Beast
- Oriol Vila as Marcos
- Vicente Romero as Balón
- Blanca Suárez as Ingrid
- Marina Salas as Vanessa
- Huichi Chiu as Shui
Production
editThe film is an Alea Docs & Films and Bausan Films and production.[8] Shooting locations included the casinos of Lloret de Mar and Mallorca as well as Girona's Barri Vell.[9]
Release
editWinning Streak premiered at the 15th Málaga Film Festival on 21 April 2012,[1] and began its theatrical run in Spain on 27 April 2012. The film was also released in theatres in Russia and Poland, and in Canada it was shown at both the Ottawa European Union Film Festival—on 16 November 2012—and the Vancouver European Union Film Festival on 23 November 2013. It was released straight-to-DVD in Brazil, Germany, Greece and Japan.[10]
The film was on the program of the 2014 edition of Thailand's EU Film Festival, shown in the cities of Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Advertised as The Pelayos, the film was one of seven films that were shown in all three cities.[11]
Reception
editCritical response
editThe film received mixed to negative reviews from film critics. Jonathan Holland of the Variety wrote, "Ocean's Eleven tries to become a Hispanic Magnificent Seven in Winning Streak a disappointingly straight-ahead take on one family's high-risk attempt to get rich by beating the casinos. Despite its terrific real-life storyline, a couple of fine perfs and slick visuals, the pic stumbles in its eagerness to please all comers, failing to generate much real tension and leaving its characters as flat as poker chips".[12] Sonia Sanz of Cultture.com criticized actors Daniel Brühl, Lluís Homar, Oriol Vila, Eduard Fernández and Blanca Suárez for their "underwhelming" performances, and called the film itself "disappointing".[13] Emilio Luna of the El Antepenúltimo Mohicano gave the film a rather negative review and awarded it with four out of ten stars.[14]
In a more positive review of the film, Patrick Mullen of Cinemablographer.com wrote, "Brühl and Homar's work is worth noting since they manage to draw out characters that don't seem to be part of the film's thin script. [...] Winning Streak is a fun little caper all the same, slight as it may be. Winning Streak probably won't break the bank, but it should at least break even", and gave the film three out of five stars.[15]
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012
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15th Málaga Film Festival | Best Film Editing | Koldo Idígoras | Won | [16] |
| Neox Fan Awards 2012 | Best Film Actress | Blanca Suárez | Won | [17] | |
| Best Film | Winning Streak | Nominated | |||
2013
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5th Gaudí Awards | Best Production Manager | Eduard Vallès | Won | [18] |
| Best Art Direction | Balter Gallart | Nominated | |||
| Best Cinematography | David Omedes | Nominated | |||
| Best Film not in the Catalan Language | Winning Streak | Nominated |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Arranca el festival de cine de Málaga con 'The Pelayos', un 'Ocean's eleven' a la española". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 21 April 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ a b Don Pelayo, the man who wants to dismantle internet security, by Jaime Rodríguez 12-22-2015, El Mundo (in Spanish)
- ^ Mind.capital, the world's first CRYPT-FIAT platform 12-02-2019, invertirencriptomonedas.net (in Spanish)
- ^ Mind Capital: Crypto-fiat arbitrage, a refuge for the markets in the current crisis 03-24-2020, Yahoo! Finance
- ^ The crypto-fiat arbitration, a refuge for the markets under the current crisis 03-19-2020, Europapress.es (in Spanish)
- ^ Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo's Website
- ^ a b c d e f The man who collapsed casinos wants to be the ambassador of Spanish bitcoin 11-0-2017, Economia Digital Galicia (in Spanish)
- ^ "'The Pelayos'. Miguel Ángel Silvestre, rey de la ruleta". Fotogramas. 6 April 2011.
- ^ Bonaventura, Daniel (22 June 2011). ""The Pelayos" corren pels carrers de Girona després de "buidar" un casino". Diari de Girona. Prensa Ibérica.
- ^ "Release Info for Winning Streak (2012)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Showtimes EU Film Festival 2014". SFX Cinemas. SFX Cinemas. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
- ^ Holland, Jonathan (11 May 2012). "Winning Streak". Variety. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ Sanz, Sonia (27 April 2012). "Crítica de 'The Pelayos': sobredosis de guaycismo y fallo en el ritmo". Cultture.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ Luna, Emilio (10 May 2012). "The Pelayos (Eduard Cortés, 2012)". El Antepenúltimo Mohicano (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ Mullen, Patrick (18 November 2012). "EUFF Review: 'Winning Streak'". Cinemablographer.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Así fue el Festival de Málaga de 2012" (PDF). Málaga Film Festival (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Paco León, Mario Casas, David Bustamante, Auryn y Blanca Suárez, ganadores de los Neox Fan Awards". Formula TV (in Spanish). 24 October 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Las películas participadas por TVE se alzan con 11 galardones en la V edición de los Premios Gaudí". TVE (in Spanish). 4 February 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.