Perro come perro

A few hours ago, I was talking with two female acquaintances about violence in movies, and how difficult it is for them to cope with this issue.

Truthfully, after watching this film, I felt some of the emotions and feelings they described,why? the violence in "Dog Eat Dog" is intense but I am not talking about the physical violence, I am not talking about the blood and gore, but the mental and psychological turbulence that the characters have to endure, and with them, us the viewers. It is like watching Reservoir Dogs for the first time, but darker,with elements of black magic, that can be understand by the Latin culture, in a different way than Hollywood standards.

Because of the atmosphere created in this mentally- violent story, I felt proud of understanding two languages,because even though I am not from Colombia, I was able to sync with the angst and desperation of these bad guys, even though I found them despicable, all of them! each in a different way. And still I found myself wishing for the bad guy, (as I did for Bruce Willis in "Pulp Fiction") to find his way out of the mud.

I did not find comedy in this movie, "Sierra" is not funny in any way, he is just the classic bully, sarcastic and brutal with a smile on his face. As a crime story it fills with meanness, nastiness and despair, and unlike "Bummer" (2003) , there is no, loyalty or camaraderie, or honor, it is a cold world where money means everything to the extent of chopping another human being into pieces.

I found it even "Hitchcock style" building up, getting into your nerves and making you feel the heat of their city, and like in 'The Plague Dogs" (1982), you feel like all hope should be abandoned and discarded.

As I have said in my reviews, I have seen it all and hardly get impressed by a movie, unless it's one of those rare gems as "Cold Blooded" (2012) or this time "Perro come perro".

I really recommend this one, but if you are not really into movies as a form of art, better stick yourself to "Transformers" or "I Frankenstein'" or "Sin City" because they are easy to digest and comprehend, I said this because I think you may be really unhappy not catching up about who was "Adela", that is easily identified in the movie "...vos como te llamas?" The rest is to put two and two together.

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.

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.

"Perro come perro", a.k.a. "Dog Eat Dog", has been announced as a groundbreaking feature film in Colombian cinema, mainly for being a participant in Sundance Festival 2008. I even got to read a review saying that it would be the next "Amores Perros" of South America and that it marked a new period for Colombian cinema. As an openminded person who loves cinema, I was very much persuaded of seeing the film for the positive reviews: I definitely expected a whole lot more of what I got to see on the screen. Those propagandistic reviews are the motivation behind this personal commentary.

PCP is seriously flawed in many ways. We may start on the overacting of most of the cast. Now then, if it hadn't been for the superficial way in which the themes were dealt with, the spectators could have empathised with at least something; but there's no space for empathy to happen. On the contrary, the supposed seriousness of the main characters' problems is ludicrous.

The plot in itself is quite straightforward: it's a film based more on atmospheres than on actions. If the movie fails to portray a plausible atmosphere is because of its overdirecting. Without any relevant plot twists and several obvious elements, it tries to appeal in any available form to the audience, even resulting in ridiculous comic relief situations. The soundtrack (original music) and title sequence seem like made for another kind of movie. The 'over the top' post-production (colour correction, editing, sound design) only makes us too aware of the directorial efforts to be innovative. Let's face it: if you're going to do "another" Colombian-violence related-gangster film, try at least not to step on the abundant clichés available for the genre. Instead we get to see a handful of badly used cinematic resources within a weak story.

Besides the flaws aforementioned, what I least liked is its thematic emptiness. There are so many pointless situations!! This is made especially annoying with some exaggerated gratuitous violence scenes. All in all, I never got the point of the film (not the story, which is far too simple). What I mean is that it doesn't really say anything new or interesting about the topic, nor it has a cinematic proposal that would rescue the film from being a commonplace empty gangster-sicario movie, as what it really is.

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.