04/04/2024 - Luis Zahera flies so high as the protagonist, alongside Javier Gutiérrez, of Pau Durà's trans-European road movie, that a Goya nomination could be within reach

Incredible. This is Luis Zahera's work in Birds Flying East [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the third film directed by the actor Pau Durà (after Formentera Lady [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Toscana), presented in competition at the Malaga Film Festival and in Spanish cinemas by Filmax from tomorrow, 5 April. Anyone who has seen the Galician actor playing testosterone- and adrenaline-fuelled men in Rodrigo Sorogoyen's films such as The Realm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Isabel P…
film profile] and The Beasts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabe…
film profile] will be amazed at his new work. In this road movie shot in beautiful Spanish, Italian and Romanian scenery and aided by his co-star, Javier Gutiérrez (who we also recently saw in the film Honeymoon), he reaches a level of sensitivity that is not easy to achieve for a tragicomedy.

Its plot features Colombo (played by Javier Gutiérrez), who works in a 24-hour garage, supplementing his meagre wages by dealing marijuana. Mario (Luis Zahera) is a birdwatching enthusiast who suddenly appears and hires him as a chauffeur to go to the Costa Brava to see cranes, as he is terrified of driving. But when they reach their destination, the birds have changed their migratory course towards the Danube delta and Mario needs to get there by whatever means and at whatever price his travelling companion demands.

The film not only rides along European roads, but also turns into a buddy movie where two mature and rather lost men will have to accept each other, get to know each other and help each other. It may seem like an "endearing" film that we have all seen before, there are many examples of this kind of odd couple on screen, from pairs of policemen or journalists to cowboys. However, both the ironic humour and the excellent performance (Zahera won the Silver Biznaga for Best Performance by a Male Actor for his work in Malaga Film Festival) manage to achieve a good deal of emotion and empathy, despite the over-present and emphatic music.

Birds Flying East portrays two not so tough guys trying to escape from their respective cages, when they are really carrying them at a cost. One as a traumatic feeling of guilt and the other with an unaccepted irresponsibility/immaturity. Although their journey together will be physical across several European countries, it will also be mostly introspective as they test and change as they would never have done if they had not flown their nests.

With a certain melancholy taking everything over, comedy and drama travel together with these anti-heroes who - because, as popular wisdom assures us, close contact breeds affection - end up doing more interesting things than simply urinating together on the side of the road.

Birds Flying East is produced by the Spanish companies Fosca Films, Icónica Producciones and Tandem Films in co-production with the Romanian company Saga Film. Filmax manages its international sales.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)