The Motive is a fun, light film with a sad sack lead we can love and good laughs sprinkled throughout.
The Motive(El autor)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Spain, Mexico · 2017
1h 44m
Director Manuel Martín Cuenca
Starring Javier Gutiérrez, María León, Adelfa Calvo, Adriana Paz
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Álvaro is an aspiring writer who dreams of writing a great novel. He soon finds, however, that he lacks the imagination necessary to do so. To find inspiration for his book, he begins manipulating the lives of the people around him in hopes of writing about the consequences of his own actions.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Whatever attracted Cuenca (“Cannibal”) to this material is seldom evident in his handling of it. Yet the material itself still lends the film its genuine if all-too-modest pleasures.
The Hollywood Reporter by Jonathan Holland
A high-risk shot at a screen adaptation of a novel within a novel, The Motive is entertaining and buzzes with fun ideas, but as an involving drama, it never gets past the first chapter.
Los Angeles Times by Michael Rechtshaffen
With its probing camera and spare piano score, the film effectively creates a clinically sterile environment that’s as spiritually devoid as the soul of its protagonist, and while the inevitable twist ending doesn’t land with the unsettling thud it might have, getting there is quite the page-turner.
Users who liked this film also liked
Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain
Some friendships are worth a fortune
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 1995
- Director Kevin James Dobson
- Cast Christina Ricci, Anna Chlumsky, Polly Draper, Brian Kerwin, Diana Scarwid, David Keith
- Genre Drama, Adventure, Family, Mystery
- Available on Starz, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz Amazon Channel, Starz Apple TV Channel
Basic Sanitation: The Movie
(Saneamento Básico: O Filme)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Brazil • 2007
- Director Jorge Furtado
- Cast Fernanda Torres, Wagner Moura, Camila Pitanga, Bruno Garcia, Janaína Kremer, Lázaro Ramos
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Olive Tree
(El olivo)
Never lose touch with your roots.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, Germany • 2016
- Director Icíar Bollaín
- Cast Anna Castillo, Javier Gutiérrez, Pep Ambròs, Manuel Cucala, Miguel Ángel Aladrén, Carme Pla
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Heroes Wanted
(Cuerpo de élite)
The best of the worst
- ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2016
- Director Joaquín Mazón
- Cast Miki Esparbé, Jordi Sánchez, María León, Silvia Abril
- Genre Action, Comedy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Fury of a Patient Man
(Tarde para la ira)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2016
- Director Raúl Arévalo
- Cast Antonio de la Torre, Luis Callejo, Ruth Díaz, Raúl Jiménez, Manolo Solo, Font García
- Genre Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Zacma: Blindness
(Zaćma)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 2016
- Director Ryszard Bugajski
- Cast Maria Mamona, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, Janusz Gajos, Marek Kalita, Bartosz Porczyk, Kazimierz Kaczor
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Bar
(El bar)
Ordering coffee can cost your life
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, Argentina • 2017
- Director Álex de la Iglesia
- Cast Blanca Suárez, Mario Casas, Carmen Machi, Secun de la Rosa, Jaime Ordóñez, Terele Pávez
- Genre Horror, Thriller, Comedy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Giant
(Handia)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2017
- Director Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño
- Cast Ramon Agirre, Eneko Sagardoy, Joseba Usabiaga, Aia Kruse, Iñigo Azpitarte
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Mist & the Maiden
(La niebla y la doncella)
You are never close enough to the truth
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2017
- Director Andrés M. Koppel
- Cast Quim Gutiérrez, Verónica Echegui, Aura Garrido, Roberto Álamo, Marian Álvarez, Sanny van Heteren
- Genre Thriller, Drama, Crime, Mystery
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Summer 1993
(Estiu 1993)
A new family. A new world.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2017
- Director Carla Simón
- Cast Laia Artigas, Bruna Cusí, David Verdaguer, Paula Robles, Isabel Rocatti, Montse Sanz
- Genre Drama
- Available on OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Plex, Plex Channel
Sunday's Illness
(La enfermedad del domingo)
Family is the strongest...and strangest...bond.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2018
- Director Ramón Salazar
- Cast Bárbara Lennie, Susi Sánchez, Greta Fernández, Miguel Ángel Solá, Richard Bohringer
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Serial Cook
(Sofra Sırları)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2018
- Director Ümit Ünal
- Cast Demet Evgar, Fatih Al, Alican Yücesoy, Elit Andaç Çam, Fırat Altunmeşe, Ferit Aktuğ
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Crime
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Il tuttofare
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2018
- Director Valerio Attanasio
- Cast Sergio Castellitto, Guglielmo Poggi, Clara Alonso, Elena Sofia Ricci, Domenico Centamore, Alberto Di Stasio
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Under the Same Roof
(Bajo el mismo techo)
- ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2019
- Director Juana Macías
- Cast Jordi Sánchez, Silvia Abril, Daniel Guzmán, Malena Alterio, Álvaro Cervantes, Cristina Castaño
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube