Perro come perro

When the ending titles of "Perro come perro" came out, movies like "The Long Good Friday", "Once upon a time in America" and "Cidade de deus" came to my mind. This film is made with the same artistry, the same dark humor and specially with the same approach to criminal life.

Great character development, accomplished cinematography and a clear understanding of the Cali underworld are some of the qualities this movie brings to the viewer.

This movie is for Cali what "Snatch" was for London and it works so well.

Of course there are some flaws, but this movie is such and acomplishment that you can let them go.

A breath of fresh air for Colombian Cinema and the "Dago-Formula" that comes every year.

My deepest congratulations to the crew of "PCP", you've made a mark in Colombian Cinema History.

Whoa, whoa!!! Stop the horses... Saying that "Perro Come Perro" is kind of Tarantino's or Ritchie's work might have, it's the biggest lie on earth. I'm from Colombia too, but... sincerely: leave aside the stupid patriotism. I've seen this movie with other titles before... it's nothing new, but it's not bad at all... The only point it's worth to enhance is the direction of Carlos Moreno... it's methodical and creative. The screenplay has a lot of clichés and flaws, the worst one is the Adela situation... that's a popular joke turn into a movie... the violence it's free of charge and I'm not talking about the chainsaw scene... this is not so graphic like the one in Scarface, man... the actors, I don't know... either of them don't bring it out for a nomination of anything. Anyone could have done that parts the same way and nobody sees the difference. The music is good, Superlitio sounds strong and cool in the soundtrack... At the end, with Perro Come Perro, you can go to the movies to hang out and eat some popcorn.

Colombia's film/television productions are widely criticized for their thematic fixation and romantization on our dark past of drug lords and hitmen, yet this film achieves what it wants. It's far from a romantic portrayal of the lives of drug dealers and hitmen; it's a red flag, a huge banner that says STAY AWAY. We follow our characters through their descent into death's inescapable grip, one bad decision after the other. Haunted by guilt, witchcraft, anger, remorse, the script is solid enough to create memorable characters that we start caring about, although at points the narrative loses its focus. There are several interesting narrative tools that leave you pleasantly surprised, such as the persistent telephone calls asking about "Adela". Some characters lack foundation, the only memorable and relatable ones are Víctor and Benítez. The editing's pretty off, there are certain very unnecesary cuts at times and the color grading makes it seem like an American portrayal of Mexico. The soundtrack's outstanding and most of the acting is well-achueced. Overall, a good movie.

I recently saw this at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. This was Columbia's official submission for consideration in Best Foreign film to the Academy Awards. This is also the debut film of writer/director Carlos Moreno and he offers up a dark crime drama mixed with dark comedy in this film set in infamous drug cartel city of Cali. victor (Marlon Moreno) and Eusedio (Oscar Borda) are two low level criminals, one who has stolen a bag of his bosses drug money and the other who has killed the bosses godson. The consequences of their actions drive the darkly witty plot with lots of twists, turns and gruesome killings. It's a fast paced script from director Moreno along with Alonso Torres and colorful cinematography by Juan Carlos Gil. Still it's a typical blood and guts mob movie about greed and betrayal but it does have several interesting characters and some strange comedy like a Quentin Tarantino might have. I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.

This sun-baked slice of nihilism from Colombia is a very interesting watch indeed. Although there's plenty of yelling and gun-waving, there's also a very ominous feeling about the whole show. Marlon Moreno definitely has presence as the lead, Victor, who must deal with family problems and tries to solve it by stealing money from a dead lackey belonging to his big boss, a snarlingly fun Blas Jaramillo. Holed up in a hotel room with fellow gangster Eusebio (Oscar Borda) Victor waits for the order to find and kill whoever stole the money (himself) and keeps receiving crazy phone calls from a half-mad man looking for a woman named Adela. If this all sounds like fun to you, it is. On top of all that, Eusebio may or may not be "cursed" by a dead man or just going bugnuts crazy. Yes, there's something for everyone here. The only drawback I can think of is it feels a tad too short and a few of the lead characters aren't fleshed out enough to truly care for them when the screws are really put to them. There's plenty of style, however, and you'll being humming the title theme long after it's over.