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 Apple TV Channel
Cairo Station
(باب الحديد)
A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Egypt • 1958
- Director Youssef Chahine
- Cast Farid Shawqi, Hend Rostom, Youssef Chahine, Hassan el Baroudi, Abdel Aziz Khalil, Said Khalil
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Criterion 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.
Nothing in Return
(A cambio de nada)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2015
- Director Daniel Guzmán
- Cast Miguel Herrán, Antonio Bachiller, Antonia Guzmán, Felipe García Vélez, Luis Tosar, María Miguel
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Night My Mother Killed My Father
(La noche que mi madre mató a mi padre)
One night, Isabel hosts a dinner for her scriptwriter husband to convince an actor to star in his movie.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2016
- Director Inés París
- Cast Belén Rueda, Diego Peretti, Eduard Fernández, María Pujalte, Fele Martínez
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Apple TV
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 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
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
The Angel
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Israel, United Kingdom, Egypt • 2018
- Director Ariel Vromen
- Cast Marwan Kenzari, Toby Kebbell, Hannah Ware, Waleed Zuaiter, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Sasson Gabai
- Genre Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
In the Family
(Aile Arasında)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2017
- Director Ozan Açıktan
- Cast Engin Günaydın, Demet Evgar, Erdal Özyağcılar, Devrim Yakut, Fatih Artman, Şevket Çoruh
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube
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.
Animal World
(动物世界)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- China • 2018
- Director Yan Han
- Cast Li Yifeng, Michael Douglas, Zhou Dongyu, Cao Bingkun, Wang Ge, Su Ke
- Genre Drama, Action, Adventure, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy
- 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