Customer Reviews

Deep Crimson

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Deep Crimson" is a merciless movie that dwelves into human depravity and murder. It's directed by Arturo Ripstein, Mexico's most respected director who used to work under the wing of Luis Bunuel. In fact, there is a lot of Bunuel style in "Deep Crimson," a movie that shocks not only in violence, but in the entire story and character structure. In it's own way it's visceral and the performances are always chillingly convincing. Ripstein and his writer, Paz Alicia Garciadiego are not afraid to offend the audience and don't hold back, looking at reality unblinkingly. The photography is really rich, gritty and artistic. "Deep Crimson" can be seen as a study of human perversion mingled with lust and depravity. These are characters down on the evolutionary scale who resort to murder for petty reasons, and the way the murders are carried out and the way these characters act and the way Ripstein films it with such realism, is what makes the film effective and disturbing. "Deep Crimson" shows how sometimes American cinema can be really tame, Ripstein obviously isn't and shows his brilliance for realistic and effective cinema here. Obviously he learned well from Luis Bunuel, whom "Deep Crimson" would make proud.

The best Mexican cinema has its roots firmly planted in popular genres... "Deep Crimson" is a crime film, based on the real exploits of the so-called Lonely Hearts Club killers in the post-war United States...

Nicolás and Colar are a grotesque version of Bonnie and Clyde, who rob not banks but vulnerable rich women...Nicolás is a middle-aged man of abundant charm with an unconvincing wig, who appeals to the snobbery of elderly widows by his ability to pose as a Spaniard, affecting the accent and mannerisms of the expatriate... Coral is an overweight single mother who drives her children and takes off with Nicolás, pushing him from robbery to murder...

Though money is the apparent motive, Coral is addicted to romance, as we see in the first shot of her bedroom, stuffed with cheap but gaudy clothes, Mills & Boon-type novels, and photographs of film stars... The killings the pairs commit are dictated by Coral's passion for Nicolás... He seduces women in order to steal them, and this incurs Coral's murderous jealousy...

Arturo Ripstein's film is essentially a study of thwarted passion turning repugnant... Coral is vicious, even to the extent of killing a young girl who has witnessed her mother's murder... Yet her gesture of offering her own hair to make Nicolás a new wig is at once tender and ridiculous...

I think the horror and perversion of the story has distracted some people from the comedic intent of the piece. The lines in the script that show how distorted the characters' thinking is are not intended to be parts of deep character studies. These people are characatures. You could compare this to Fargo and to The Vampire's Kiss in that way. This was no docudrama. It's an excellent addition to its genre. The edgy narcissism of the male and needy dissociation of the female lead really come across.

This would have been a very interesting movie - addressing very neatly what the appeal was of the Charles Boyer-look-alike, which was a mystery to reviewers of other movies based on the real story of the Lonely Hearts Club killers. I liked this movie except for the ending, which (a) departs from the real story upon which the movie is based, and (b) seems to me a very awkward edit to make the story end after X number of minutes despite great injury to the story or plot.

I deleted the paragraph in which I say what the ending was, since 0 of 1 people found my review helpful, perhaps that was the unhelpful part. And yet this review was popping up as the most helpful critical review despite others rated more helpful and more critical, so go figure ... maybe a little glitch.

The rest of what I would have to say is already covered in the previous 5 reviews. I googled the Lonely Hearts Club Murders and read with interest Mark Gado's 23 page article. (small pages)

The way Roger Ebert and TIME magazine described this movie made me buy it and see it. I was expecting a gruesome masterpiece, something like Buñuel's "Los Olvidados" or any film by Bigas Lunas. Certainly, Arturo Ripstein directing is always a good omen, but... alas, it was not to be!

Sure, the story is quite disturbing, but not as shocking as you'd think. Daniel Giménez Cacho and Regina Orozco are O.K. but not in their roles of a lifetime. The girl playing the last victim makes the best performance of them all, and Almodóvar's favorite Marisa Paredes is thoroughly wasted in the most dreadful acting I've ever seen. Too bad, really, but worth watching once.

Remember, it ain't over 'til the fat lady... sinks!