Nicotina

NiICOTINA is a perfect example of the transformation Mexican cinema has undergone in the past 30 years!!!

Equal parts Tarantinoesque film noir, Greek tragedy and sociocultural satire, Nicontina makes for a rousingly entertaining 90 minutes!!!.

Populated by a rather oddly colorful assortment of characters whose lives, seemingly, in one way or another, revolve around cigarettes or attempting to curtail their use. In this way, "NICOTINA" is a passive cast member of sorts.

What really makes this work is the quality of the ensemble performance, and the uncanny sense of timing of both director (Argentine Hugo Rodriguez-Producer/The Violin) and editor (Alberto de Toro). Diego Luna(Y Tu Mamá También) delivers an Oscar nomination worthy performance as the Über-creepy obsessive voyeur nerd next door!

With a Classic flair noir twist, Lolo (Luna) learns a painful Karmic lesson on the nefarious repercussions of his techno-voyeurism.

8.5********* ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

It's a warm night in Mexico City and we peek in on 90 minutes of obsessive behavior mixed with criminal activity.

Lolo (Diego Luna) is trying to sell codes to a Swiss bank to a Russian in exchange for diamonds, while he peeks in on Andria (María Beláustegui). She discovers his peeping, and destroys the disks he made. Now, the fun begins.

Lolo meets Nene (Lucas Crespi) and Tomson (Jesús Ochoa), but he doesn't have the disk they are paying for. Double cross? No, just carelessness, but shooting starts and the Russian starts running. He ends up in a barbershop run by Carmen (Rosa María Bianchi) and Goyo (Rafael Inclán), where things really get bizarre and out of control.

Nene ends up in a pharmacy with Clara (Carmen Madrid) and Beto (Daniel Giménez Cacho). Lolo ends up there, too.

The whole movie plays like a guy Ritchie caper with a Mexican flavor.

The subject of smoking and quitting runs throughout. it provides many moments of humor, and eventually, one smoker's carelessness does him in.

At best a PG-13. It' s dark comedy with only suggested sex.

I'd give it a 7.5 if i could, the major problem with this movie is, it is a hell of fun to see the characters slip more and more into their misery... but there is so little room to guess whats happening. You always know whats happening, you are the one that knows just everything, that won't mean the story is predictable but there's just no room for guessing (like in other movies, "f.i. who's the murder ?"). Anway it's a very cool movie, if I had to compare it it's like a thrilling story your grandpa tells you. You're eager to know what's happening next but once you heard it you don't want to hear it again.

Good and maybe Great but not Excellent.

'Nicotina' is a dark semi-gangster comedy revolving around gangsters (obviously), a computer geek, a corpulent Russian kingpin, two hairdressers and a convenience shop owner among others. The premise is interesting and I liked the premise and the Mexican humour.

However, the film starts off slow. The dialogues are a little repetitive but the pace brilliantly picks up after about the first half hour. Rodriguez could have incorporated more style in his execution. The editing could have been tighter but at the same time, some of the characters could have used more development.

The comedic situations, which the characters encounter and deal with, work excellently. The irony is well displayed and the film has a darkly whimsical feel to it. I thought a different background score would have worked better, something with a little more energy.

Yet, 'Nicotina' remains an enjoyable urban film. Diego Luna, Martha Tenorio, Rafael Inclán and Rosa María Bianchi are very good. At the time, dark urban comedies may have been a trend in Mexican cinema but that does nOt stop 'Nicotina' from being fun.

Hugo Rodriguez' "Nicotina" is a fun picture, but it is enough to say that it is a Mexican version of Guy Ritchie's English heist flicks, albeit less so. Less violent, less convoluted, less hilarious. And yet, still violent and convoluted and

hilarious enough. So there it is. Diego Luna's in it, and ain't nobody doesn't think he's cute. Rodriguez uses funky wipes as scene transitions, punched up by

goofy sound effects, there's a scene where a bitchy barber's wife cuts open a guy's belly to get at some diamonds. And there's that smoking theme --

everybody's quitting, trying to quit, in denial about quitting, can't afford the smokes, can't find any lighter fluid, something. It's a motif and it's a metaphor, though perhaps not the deepest one ever (you never what's gonna kill ya!). It makes for a catchy title, though.