According to Variety, Roadside Attractions and Liddell Entertainment have grabbed the U.S. distribution rights to Alejandro González Iñárritu's Spanish film Biutiful.

The film stars Javier Bardem. Biutiful drew mixed reviews when it played at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Bardem picked up the festival's top acting award.

Roadside will most likely release Biutiful in an awards run starting in the last week of December.

"Biutiful joins the growing pantheon of tremendous, groundbreaking work by Alejandro González Iñárritu," said Roadside co-president Howard Cohen.

"It's a deeply felt film, guaranteed to rock audiences to their core, and that's due to the amazing reciprocity between filmmaker and actor. Alejandro and Javier are two halves of the same whole." Cohen offered.

The film is based on a script from Iñárritu and Armando Bo and Nicolas Giacobone. It follows a Barcelona crook and single father of two small children. He must get his affairs in order when he finds out he's dying.