| Brain Drain | |
|---|---|
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| Spanish | Fuga de cerebros |
| Directed by | Fernando González Molina |
| Written by | Curro Velázquez Álex Pina |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Sergio Delgado |
| Edited by | Irene Blecua |
| Music by |
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Production company | |
| Distributed by | Hispano FoxFilm |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Languages |
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| Box office | €7 million |
Brain Drain (Spanish:Fuga de cerebros) is a 2009 Spanish romantic comedy film directed byFernando González Molina and starringMario Casas andAmaia Salamanca. The film is anA3 Films production.
The production started on 14 July 2008 inMadrid andGijón, and its premier was on 24 April 2009. Due to great success at the Spanish box office, the film spawned off a sequel,Brain Drain 2 (2011).
The film begins with an 18 year old Emilio (Mario Casas) who credits his amorous misadventures with Natalia (Amaia Salamanca) to his physical problems (orthodoncy,orthosis, etc.) When he is 18, he finally gets rid of all his dental paraphernalia and has a chance to confess to Natalia his love. But when she gets a student grant to attendOxford 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 Emilio's friends isblind, another isparaplegic and the last one is a drug dealer). Despite their impediments, they do their best to help Emilio 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 toState 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] OnLetterboxd the movie has a 2-star rating.[5]