Brain Drain (Spanish: Fuga de cerebros) is a 2009 Spanish romantic-comedy film directed by Fernando González Molina and starring Mario Casas and Amaia Salamanca. The film is an A3 Films production.
| Brain Drain | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Fernando González Molina |
| Written by | Curro Velázquez Álex Pina |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | Mario Casas Amaia Salamanca Alberto Amarilla Gorka Lasaosa Pablo Penedo Canco Rodríguez Blanca Suárez Simon Cohen |
| Cinematography | Sergio Delgado |
| Edited by | Irene Blecua |
| Music by | Manel Santiesteban, Cecilia Krull |
Production company | A3 Films |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Languages | Spanish English |
| Box office | €7 million |
The production started on 14 July 2008 in Madrid and Gijón, and its premier was on 24 April 2009. Due to great success in the Spanish's box offices, Carlos Theron filmed its sequel: Fuga de Cerebros: Ahora en Harvard (Brain Drain: Now in Harvard) in 2011.
The film begins with an 18 year old Emilio (Mario Casas) who tells his amorous misadventures with Natalia (Amaia Salamanca) due to all his physical problems (orthodoncy, orthosis, etc.) When he is 18 he finally gets rid of all his dental appareils and has the chance to confess to Natalia his love. But when she gets a student grant to attend Oxford University (England), all his friends try to help him by going to Oxford too with fake grants.
However, once there, the group must confront several problems, such as their poor English and their disabilities and quirks (one of the Emilio's friends is blind, other is paraplegic and the last one is a drug dealer). Nevertheless, and despite their impediments, they make their best to help him to get closer to Natalia with disastrous results.
In its first week at the Spanish theaters, the film reached €1.22 mill at the office box and nearly 200,000 spectators saw it. With those takings, Brain Drain was the first on the Spanish box and a hit forward to State of Play.[1]
Meanwhile, in the international box office: in United States, the film got $1,614,121 in its first weekend at cinemas.[2]
The total income amounted to almost €7 million, becoming the biggest blockbuster Spanish film in 2009.
The film itself, however, was panned by critics.[3][4] On Letterboxd the movie has a 2-star rating.[5]