Smoke & Mirrors (Spanish: El hombre de las mil caras) is a 2016 Spanish thriller film directed by Alberto Rodríguez based on the 2006 non-fiction book Paesa, el espía de las mil caras by Manuel Cerdán.[1] The film stars Eduard Fernández as Francisco Paesa, a former agent of the Spanish secret service who faked his own death after an infamous corruption scandal.
Plot
Francisco Paesa — an ex-secret agent for the Spanish government who was instrumental in the most important operation against the Basque terrorist group ETA — is framed by his own government and forced to leave the country. When he is finally able to return to Spain, he is broke and his personal life is falling apart. It is then he receives a visit from Luis Roldán, the powerful former Commissioner of Police who offers him one million dollars for help with safeguarding twelve million dollars embezzled by Roldán from the police budget. Paesa plans revenge in order to seize Roldán’s money, fooling an entire country in a brilliant and intricate operation worthy of the best illusionist.
Fausto Fernández of Fotogramas rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, singling out "the precision with which it is narrated and executed" as its hallmark.[5]
Carlos Marañón of Cinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, assessing that "Rodriguez takes [the] Spanish political thriller [genre] to another level".[6]
Jonathan Holland of The Hollywood Reporter deemed the film to be "quick-thinking, showy, ambitious and stylish in its manipulations; but also, for most of the duration, it's as soulless as a briefcase full of used banknotes".[7]
Guy Lodge of Variety billed the film as a "slick-as-Brylcreem political thriller".[8]
Lee Marshall of ScreenDaily underscored that "this overlong, over-detailed story never seems entirely sure what it's trying to say".[9]
