LISBON

A rumpled Portugese named Joao makes his typical, weekly run along the Spain-Portugal border, keeping the racks of stores and gas stations stocked with sex-and-crime magazines and softcore videos. He yearns for adventures as torrid as the male fantasies in the trash he peddles. Today he gets his wish. Spanish territory suddenly swarms with police patrols and a roadblock around a spectacular accident scene, and suddenly a middle-aged but striking woman (Carmen Maura) ? with a gun and jewels in her handbag ? begs Joao to take her to Lisbon. She'll do…anything if he gets her there. Is she crazy? Ill? She keeps swooning, and Joao soon meets the runaway matron's sharklike family from Madrid who come to claim her. A father with something to hide. A sensual, licentious grown daughter. And a husband who makes Joao an Offer He Can't Refuse. If they really are a pack of cutthroats as the female fugitive claims, then they've assassinated before and would easily do it again. Joao is in for the ride of his life. Hotter than Iberian asphalt, Antonio Hern?ndez's straightfaced homage to pulp-noir thrillers goes over the top in style, with some of the Spanish-speaking cinema's top stars and Sergio Leonesque camera sweeps making the most of the wide, Catalan deserts and skies. (In Portuguese and Spanish with English subtitles.)