Fill Me With Life

• Director: Josecho San Mateo
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Addiction Drama, Urban Drama
• Themes: Drug Trade, Down on Their Luck, Inner City Blues
• Release Year: 2000
• Country: ES
• Run Time: 106 minutes

Plot

This Spanish drama takes an unblinking look at the grim realities of life among Madrid's economically and spiritually underprivileged underclass. David (Unax Ugalde) is a homeless man who struggles to get by with the help of his friends -- dope-dealing Carlos (Juan Diaz), cheerful but misguided Abundio (Fede Celada), and half-bright Titanlux (Benjamin Seva). One day, David meets a beautiful woman, Maria (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), and is immediately smitten. He sets out to earn her affections, and as Maria is charmed by David's ardor (as well as his poetry), she quits her job at a diner to be with him. David and Maria move in to Carlos's apartment, but Carlos's girlfriend Elena (Beatriz Sanchez) is not at all happy with their presence and asks them to leave. Desperate to earn some money, David makes the acquaintance of Facundo (Antonio Dechent), a high-level drug dealer who supplies Carlos with his product. Facundo recruits David as a new salesman and he starts pushing heroin on the streets, quickly making enough money to afford an apartment for Maria and himself. But Maria is eager to make some extra money of her own, and when she meets Veronica (Beatriz Arguello), a prostitute living in their building, she follows her lead and is soon turning tricks on the side; when David finds out about her new career, he soon turns to heroin to ease his heartbreak. Bailame El Agua's soundtrack features the song "But By Your Side" by Los Secretos -- grimly ironic, since vocalist Enrique Urquijo, who helped write the song, died of a drug overdose by the time the film appeared in Spanish theaters. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cast

Antonio Dechent - Facundo; Unax Ugalde - David; Pilar Lopez de Ayala - Maria; Juan Diaz; Fede Celada - Abundio; Benjamin Seva - Titanlux; Beatriz Sanchez - Elena; Beatriz Arguello - Veronica

Credit

Josecho San Mateo - Director, José Salcedo - Editor, Jose Antonio Perez Giner - Executive Producer, Jose Luis Garcia Arrojo - Executive Producer, Juan Molina - Cinematographer, Daniel Valdes - Book Author

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