I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin
Added 7/31/2009
Nicotina: 5 out of 10: Nicotina represents a black comedy tradition that has been alive and well in Mexico for over fifty years. The tradition is that death is around every corner and it is a punch line. In this tradition, the men are often womanizers while the women are often just as naughty. Director Hugo Rodríguez and Writer Martín Salinas took this beloved tradition and married it to its distant cousin, the Quentin Tarantino crime film.
It is a decent fit. The basic plot is that a Mexican criminal gang is trading computer bank codes for diamonds with a Russian gang. I do not think I am spoiling anything by pointing out that not everything goes as planned. The two criminal gangs end up involving the computer geek that downloaded the data. His next door neighbor, a sexy and promiscuous cellist, played by Marta Belaustegui; her conductor, a potential sugar daddy: a plant toting upstairs neighbor: a pharmacist couple, with a beautiful saintly wife played admirably by Carmen Madrid: and a beauty shop couple, with an evil harridan wife played chillingly by Rosa María Bianchi: plus the occasional police officer and a scary dog.
Some of the camera tricks can be fancy without any underling purpose, and I have not seen this much pastel neon on buildings, since that Don Johnson episode of True Hollywood Stories. Overall, however the film is nice. It is a pleasant, good time. It is not particularly scary, thrilling, funny, sexy, or clever and that is its only real fault. There is nothing terrible memorable in the ninety odd minutes of movie.
Oh and do not watch if you are trying to quit smoking. I have never seen a movie so relentless in its promotion of tobacco. It is like watching Eat Drink Man Woman while trying to diet,
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