Viewed on 11 May 03   In a darker parallel Universe of fantasy, the possibility of an infinite number of original film storylines is long-time lost on a terminally constipated Hollywood.  Not so with the Spanish film-making industry which graces the outside world with at least a couple of certified "originals" every year.   INTACTO is one of these films.  
       There are casually lucky persons among us, like those who win at bingo, or who perchance win the office 'lucky draw', or even a new car at a raffle.  But then again, there are those unlucky enough to be born truly lucky.  They are not just different, they are very different - their lives are as different and apart from we 'normals' as vampires, or the 'possessed', or mutants.   The unfortunate lucky will sooner, rather than later, seek each other out, but they do so out of more than just natural curiosity.   And they soon find their very existence channeled by different and complex sets of rules.   They also find it can be more than just fateful, it can be fatal.
        Tomas (Leonardo Sbaraglia) miraculously survives an airline crash, and is sought out by a stranger, Federico (Eusebio Poncella) who convinces him that his surviving against overwhelming odds wasn't just by chance.  He convinces Tomas that he is, in fact, one of the truly lucky who walk this earth.  Tomas' mistake is to believe Federico's sales pitch of being able to capitalize on his luck in grand fashion, and follows him into a dangerous and bizarre world where the lucky gamble against one another in games of ever-increasing stakes.  What Tomas doesn't know is Federico has all along been planning to set him up for a fateful winner-take-all showdown with 'Holocaust' survivor and casino owner Sam (Max Von Sydow) who is very lucky...
        INTACTO can be seen at the Lido Cineplex in Siam Square.  The Lido has, against all odds, begun a regular program of showing quality foreign films.  For our purposes, "foreign" means not Thai, not Hollywood .
       Enduring Line or Phrase:  "Who are you going to stake?"

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