Nicotina
AFI Fest
Diego Luna toplines this kicky exploration of chance vs. cause-and-effect. Set in real time on a fateful Mexico City night, "Nicotina" centers on a disparate bunch of characters who converge in a greed-driven romp. Martin Salinas' blackly comic tale gets stylized, energetic treatment from director Hugo Rodriguez in this Mexican-Spanish-Argentine co-production. The flawed but imaginative film, screening in the AFI Fest's International Feature Competition, deserves further fest exposure at the least.
Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien", "Open Range") plays hacker geek Lolo, who runs a mini surveillance center from his apartment, spying via video and phone hookups on the sexy cellist neighbor (Marta Belaustegui) he adores. The night she catches him in his devious games, he's cracked the accounts list of a Swiss bank for a friend in a deal that will net them a nice take from the Russian who commissioned the project. From the confusion his enraged neighbor wreaks on his surveillance library, Lolo produces the wrong disk, setting off a shootout and sending the principals into the desolate streets of the city, some of them mortally wounded.
Those caught up in the roundelay include dealmakers Nene (Lucas Crespi) and his older partner, Thompson (Jesus Ochoa, a standout), who endlessly debate the effects of smoking, and pharmacy owners Clara (Carmen Madrid) and Beto (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), whose marriage is such an empty carapace they seem more like co-workers than husband and wife as they endure another ugly night of his nicotine withdrawal. Another loveless couple, cowed barber Goyo (Rafael Inclan) and his Lady Macbeth spouse (Rosa Maria Bianchi), find themselves in the possession of the dead Russian, and she's intent on recovering the fortune in diamonds she believes are in his digestive tract. Grim doings ensue.
The opening section, focusing on Lolo's computer setup and unrequited love, is by far the film's freshest, Luna's character and performance the most engaging. His absence from much of the central section leaves a decided vacuum. Camerawork by Marcelo Iaccarino employs a playful computer motif, with split screens and highlighted image sections. The sound design, which includes a jazzy rendition of "Fever", plays an integral role.
Diego Luna toplines this kicky exploration of chance vs. cause-and-effect. Set in real time on a fateful Mexico City night, "Nicotina" centers on a disparate bunch of characters who converge in a greed-driven romp. Martin Salinas' blackly comic tale gets stylized, energetic treatment from director Hugo Rodriguez in this Mexican-Spanish-Argentine co-production. The flawed but imaginative film, screening in the AFI Fest's International Feature Competition, deserves further fest exposure at the least.
Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien", "Open Range") plays hacker geek Lolo, who runs a mini surveillance center from his apartment, spying via video and phone hookups on the sexy cellist neighbor (Marta Belaustegui) he adores. The night she catches him in his devious games, he's cracked the accounts list of a Swiss bank for a friend in a deal that will net them a nice take from the Russian who commissioned the project. From the confusion his enraged neighbor wreaks on his surveillance library, Lolo produces the wrong disk, setting off a shootout and sending the principals into the desolate streets of the city, some of them mortally wounded.
Those caught up in the roundelay include dealmakers Nene (Lucas Crespi) and his older partner, Thompson (Jesus Ochoa, a standout), who endlessly debate the effects of smoking, and pharmacy owners Clara (Carmen Madrid) and Beto (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), whose marriage is such an empty carapace they seem more like co-workers than husband and wife as they endure another ugly night of his nicotine withdrawal. Another loveless couple, cowed barber Goyo (Rafael Inclan) and his Lady Macbeth spouse (Rosa Maria Bianchi), find themselves in the possession of the dead Russian, and she's intent on recovering the fortune in diamonds she believes are in his digestive tract. Grim doings ensue.
The opening section, focusing on Lolo's computer setup and unrequited love, is by far the film's freshest, Luna's character and performance the most engaging. His absence from much of the central section leaves a decided vacuum. Camerawork by Marcelo Iaccarino employs a playful computer motif, with split screens and highlighted image sections. The sound design, which includes a jazzy rendition of "Fever", plays an integral role.
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nicotina
AFI Fest
Diego Luna toplines this kicky exploration of chance vs. cause-and-effect. Set in real time on a fateful Mexico City night, "Nicotina" centers on a disparate bunch of characters who converge in a greed-driven romp. Martin Salinas' blackly comic tale gets stylized, energetic treatment from director Hugo Rodriguez in this Mexican-Spanish-Argentine co-production. The flawed but imaginative film, screening in the AFI Fest's International Feature Competition, deserves further fest exposure at the least.
Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien", "Open Range") plays hacker geek Lolo, who runs a mini surveillance center from his apartment, spying via video and phone hookups on the sexy cellist neighbor (Marta Belaustegui) he adores. The night she catches him in his devious games, he's cracked the accounts list of a Swiss bank for a friend in a deal that will net them a nice take from the Russian who commissioned the project. From the confusion his enraged neighbor wreaks on his surveillance library, Lolo produces the wrong disk, setting off a shootout and sending the principals into the desolate streets of the city, some of them mortally wounded.
Those caught up in the roundelay include dealmakers Nene (Lucas Crespi) and his older partner, Thompson (Jesus Ochoa, a standout), who endlessly debate the effects of smoking, and pharmacy owners Clara (Carmen Madrid) and Beto (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), whose marriage is such an empty carapace they seem more like co-workers than husband and wife as they endure another ugly night of his nicotine withdrawal. Another loveless couple, cowed barber Goyo (Rafael Inclan) and his Lady Macbeth spouse (Rosa Maria Bianchi), find themselves in the possession of the dead Russian, and she's intent on recovering the fortune in diamonds she believes are in his digestive tract. Grim doings ensue.
The opening section, focusing on Lolo's computer setup and unrequited love, is by far the film's freshest, Luna's character and performance the most engaging. His absence from much of the central section leaves a decided vacuum. Camerawork by Marcelo Iaccarino employs a playful computer motif, with split screens and highlighted image sections. The sound design, which includes a jazzy rendition of "Fever", plays an integral role.
Diego Luna toplines this kicky exploration of chance vs. cause-and-effect. Set in real time on a fateful Mexico City night, "Nicotina" centers on a disparate bunch of characters who converge in a greed-driven romp. Martin Salinas' blackly comic tale gets stylized, energetic treatment from director Hugo Rodriguez in this Mexican-Spanish-Argentine co-production. The flawed but imaginative film, screening in the AFI Fest's International Feature Competition, deserves further fest exposure at the least.
Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien", "Open Range") plays hacker geek Lolo, who runs a mini surveillance center from his apartment, spying via video and phone hookups on the sexy cellist neighbor (Marta Belaustegui) he adores. The night she catches him in his devious games, he's cracked the accounts list of a Swiss bank for a friend in a deal that will net them a nice take from the Russian who commissioned the project. From the confusion his enraged neighbor wreaks on his surveillance library, Lolo produces the wrong disk, setting off a shootout and sending the principals into the desolate streets of the city, some of them mortally wounded.
Those caught up in the roundelay include dealmakers Nene (Lucas Crespi) and his older partner, Thompson (Jesus Ochoa, a standout), who endlessly debate the effects of smoking, and pharmacy owners Clara (Carmen Madrid) and Beto (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), whose marriage is such an empty carapace they seem more like co-workers than husband and wife as they endure another ugly night of his nicotine withdrawal. Another loveless couple, cowed barber Goyo (Rafael Inclan) and his Lady Macbeth spouse (Rosa Maria Bianchi), find themselves in the possession of the dead Russian, and she's intent on recovering the fortune in diamonds she believes are in his digestive tract. Grim doings ensue.
The opening section, focusing on Lolo's computer setup and unrequited love, is by far the film's freshest, Luna's character and performance the most engaging. His absence from much of the central section leaves a decided vacuum. Camerawork by Marcelo Iaccarino employs a playful computer motif, with split screens and highlighted image sections. The sound design, which includes a jazzy rendition of "Fever", plays an integral role.
- 11/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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