Last night, after leaving my house I drove into the same streets that were reintroduced to me on screen shortly after having reached the movie theaters here in Caracas.
The film opened with a raw and realistic, yet beautiful introduction to our city, especially during the strike of 2002, showing footage of the most violent scenes during that time, but also showing some very typical things with which anybody from Caracas can identify with.
Visually the Film is very well done. All shots are beautifully put together and thus the story is easy to understand, even if you don't understand the language. If you do understand the language, however...and by this I mean "Venezuelan slang", you'll enjoy the fresh and funny dialogs unlike any other Venezuelan movie due to the improvisation of most of the actors, who I think did a very good job.
The movie feels very real, yet the film doesn't get stuck on trying to portray a political or social situation. There IS a story and there are several interesting, funny and f*cked-up twists.
It's a very entertaining and enjoyable movie and without a doubt a treasure of Venezuelan cinema...
****SPOILER*****
Personally I found the ending extremely corny for several reasons. First of all, nobody is THAT unlucky... and not EVERYBODY is trying to f*ck you up in this city. IF it happens... this is kinda how it would be..., but there ARE good, healthy and decent people in this city and I do think that perhaps the movie failed to show this a little bit. Then,...the film had been so realistic and so fresh all along, I don't think we needed a hero to save the poor girl from the bad rapist cops. That was just..."corny"... a love story just doesn't fit here and it IS already clear that TRECE is the romantic guy, the "good villain". After all he did protect her from being raped by BUDU, THUS... the rapist-cops scene was over the top.
In my opinion the movie should have ended with CARLA kneeling down, the kidnappers shooting into the air instead of her, running to the car and the words: SORPRESA; AÚN ESTAS VIVA! (SURPRISE; YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!)
CUT!... credits...
XANDER
The film opened with a raw and realistic, yet beautiful introduction to our city, especially during the strike of 2002, showing footage of the most violent scenes during that time, but also showing some very typical things with which anybody from Caracas can identify with.
Visually the Film is very well done. All shots are beautifully put together and thus the story is easy to understand, even if you don't understand the language. If you do understand the language, however...and by this I mean "Venezuelan slang", you'll enjoy the fresh and funny dialogs unlike any other Venezuelan movie due to the improvisation of most of the actors, who I think did a very good job.
The movie feels very real, yet the film doesn't get stuck on trying to portray a political or social situation. There IS a story and there are several interesting, funny and f*cked-up twists.
It's a very entertaining and enjoyable movie and without a doubt a treasure of Venezuelan cinema...
****SPOILER*****
Personally I found the ending extremely corny for several reasons. First of all, nobody is THAT unlucky... and not EVERYBODY is trying to f*ck you up in this city. IF it happens... this is kinda how it would be..., but there ARE good, healthy and decent people in this city and I do think that perhaps the movie failed to show this a little bit. Then,...the film had been so realistic and so fresh all along, I don't think we needed a hero to save the poor girl from the bad rapist cops. That was just..."corny"... a love story just doesn't fit here and it IS already clear that TRECE is the romantic guy, the "good villain". After all he did protect her from being raped by BUDU, THUS... the rapist-cops scene was over the top.
In my opinion the movie should have ended with CARLA kneeling down, the kidnappers shooting into the air instead of her, running to the car and the words: SORPRESA; AÚN ESTAS VIVA! (SURPRISE; YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!)
CUT!... credits...
XANDER