Perdita Durango

Being a huge Barry Gifford fan, having enjoyed De La Iglesia's Day of the Beast, and of the opinion that Wild at Heart was one of the best novel to film adaptations in the history of cinema, needless to say, my expectations for this movie were very high. I couldnt have imagined it being so satisfying.

De La Iglesia's adaptation of Perdita Durango takes its liberties but (like Wild At Heart) finds its inspiration in the original source material without destroying the spirit.

Romeo and Perdita carve their way through the world with violence, magic, and sex. They are sadistic, perverse, and perfect for each other. From their first fateful meeting, to their kidnapping of two suburban white kids, to driving a truck full of fetus destined to be black market makeup, it is a dark destiny, a collision of two black souls. If the movie has any message, it is that even the most wicked person has a diabolic soulmate. Love does not discriminate.

The performances are great. Javier Bardem as Romeo was totally unrecognizable as the same guy who played the stud in Jamon, Jamon. He plays Romeo as charming, self preserving, and almost noble killer because of his beliefs in darkness, sacrifice, revenge, and amoral spirituality. My fears of Rosie Perez, an actress I am not fond of in any way, were unfounded as she embodied Perdita perfectly with sadism and sizzle. James Gandolfini, as the Wile E Coyote like DEA agent Dumas, was also very good, perpetually abused and doggedly determined.

De La Iglesia handles with the film with great skill. The pacing is fast and furious. Every scene is alive with energy, and his composition is masterful. He has vastly improved from the flawed, yet entertaining, Day of the Beast, and demonstrates that his is a talent that continues to grow. Given the proper material and time, I can see him providing a enjoyable body of manic, surreal, and outrageous work.

I stumbled into this film while channel surfing the other night and couldn't turn it off. There's something compelling about the performances of Javier Bardem and Rosie Perez that transform this film from what could have been a mediocre exploitation film to something well worth watching. There's a lot of original thinking here and luckily the director and editor got the mix just right to pull of a real gem. There is a mix of comedy, romance, evil, pathos and irony blended in a way to keep you off balance and always wondering what's around the next corner (what's with the fetuses?). 7 out of 10.

A psychotic criminal called Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem) is a dangerous exponent of the Vodoo-like cult , Santeria , he meets his match in femme-fatal Tex-Mex , Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez) . The couple nevertheless finds time along the way and abducts a random teenager duo named Duane (Harley Cross) and Estelle (Aimee Graham) for a forced march on the wild side . The woman rapes the male captive, and lets him watch his lover being raped by the man. They then plan to sacrifice the couple . The story kicks in when Romeo has to transport a lorryload of live foetuses across the border , being relentlessly pursued by a stubborn officer ,Willie 'Woody' Dumas , (James Gandolfini) .

This hallucinatory weirdness is a full-on surreal action movie with a wild ride that blends thrills , a lot of fun , sleazeball local color , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of underlying seriousness , horror , comedy and embarrassing situations . Packed with scenes of disagreeable nature , this fantasy-fuelled is exciting as well as frightening , as we follow the strange situations of a peculiar couple and a pair of teens whose destination is dictated by terrible events . The picture is rated ¨R¨ for its crude violence , grisly killings , lashings of sexual abandon , lots of nudism , gore and guts . The narration is so filled with quirk characters , crazy violence mixed with diabolic elements and an underlying sense of horror and gore , and it is so excessive and plenty of surprises, one can't help but keep watching, much as it is over the top in many an occasion . In the picture there is a marvelous homage by inter-cutting of footage from Robert Aldrich's excellent Mexican Western ¨Veracruz¨ and its main actor , Burt Lancaster . Overacting and excessive acting by Javier Bardem as Santero Romeo Dolorosa and nice acting by Rosie Perez as Tex-Mex Perdita who was first incarnated by Isabella Rosselini at ¨David Lynch's Wild and heart¨ also based in a novel by Barry Gifford . Javier Bardem and Carlos Bardem got badly burnt due to excessive gunpowder and a badly synchronized explosion caused by a special effects technician ; another crew member got second and third degree burns in 80% of his body . Very good support cast plenty of familiar faces such as Don Stroud as Santos , Demian Bichir as Catalina , Carlos Bardem -Javier's brother- as Reggie San Pedro , Screamin' Jay Hawkins as Adolfo , Santiago Segura as Shorty Dee and special mention to recently deceased the great James Gandolfini . Good cinematography by Flabio Martinez Labiano , excellent cameraman of ¨Non-stop , Unknown , Day of Beast , Time crimes , 800 bullets¨ , among others ; he's Alex De La Iglesia's usual photographer . Thrilling and stirring musical score by Simon Boswell .

Spanish filmmaker Alex De La Iglesia tackles efficiently the further adventures of Perdita , being compellingly directed and it barely quickens the pulse , though 'Bigas Luna' was first slated to direct the film . When Bigas was due to direct the film, Madonna, Javier Bardem and Dennis Hopper were his first choices to play the main roles . Alex De La Iglesia is a cool director who has got much success as ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨ and this ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made , being De La Iglesia's English-language debut shot in USA . And of course 'La Comunidad' obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and results to be a lot of fun, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor , it won several Goya prizes and a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . In ¨Perdita Durango¨ there is nonsense, ridicule , violence , sex , absurdity , disturbing scenes and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . It captures the essence of the best Álex De La Iglesia, a filmmaker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for thriller buffs and Alex De Iglesia fans.

"Perdita Durango"(1997)made by Alex de la Iglesia is a perfect mix of sex and violence.The film is well-made and interesting-the action is fast and there is plenty of nasty violence on display.The acting is very good-Rosie Perez shines as a rough Perdita and Javier Bardem is equally memorable as her companion Romeo.There are also some moments of black humour which make the film easier to watch.All in all I enjoyed "Perdita Durango" and you should too,if you're a fan of Iglesia's works.However I still think that "Accion Mutante" and "The Day of the Beast" are better movies.My rating:7/10.

Following the success of El Dia De Bestia and Accion mutante, once again the director pursues the nature of dark obsession. The two main leads are dysfunctional amoral sadists who re in some ways rediscovering a part of them that they miss - love.

It's a story of trying to move on but the main characters are very amoral however there's darker circles than them, which pulls them further down the spiral. In essence this movie is an antithesis of a glamour Mafia movie and I believe represents Mafia dealings in a very dark fashion. In some ways I believe there's a nod to David Lynch with the actor playing the Mafia boss.

The film is not a sick puppy nor is it banal. For those that have followed this director they will read between the lines to discover some salient points of US government intervention out of the states and human traffic - in this case embryos used for beauty products. Like 'clean Madrid' in El Dia de Bestia there were fascist movements in the capital at the time. Iglaisia puts this on the screen as a cultural reminder.

Watching this movie at face value will seem very ultra violent and in some places extremely disturbing. Unlike other cult producers like Tarintino Iglasia uses a loot of cult cultural references to make his films extremely dark and funny (like La Communidad). If you're Latin or Spanish I feel there would be a lot more in this movie for you. Recommended viewing - but not for the faint hearted.