Movie Haiku - Los Debutantes

www.losdebs.co.uk

Dir: Andres Waissbluth

Cast: Antonella Rios, Nestor Cantillana, Juan Pablo Miranda, Alejandro Trejo

He falls for stripper
her boss is the jealous type
can I lick that cream?


Okay, let's be honest, the first thing you notice about Los Debutantes is its eye-catching poster. The marketing team at Revolver have done an exceptional job of exploiting the film's most memorable image and luring potential viewers in with its, "The cream comes off in cinemas July 22nd" tagline. Not that I'm saying that's the reason why I decided to check out this Chilean thriller... ahem. Still, they weren't kidding; when we first meet Gracia (Rios) she's dancing on stage at the club where she works dressed only in her bikini of whipped cream and is soon rubbing it into her body. One drooling admirer is Victor (Miranda) who takes her out for an ice cream and eventually persuades her to go on a date with him - even though she's supposed to be with club owner and local gangster Don Pascual (Trejo). Meanwhile Victor's brother Silvio (Cantillana) steps in to prevent a fight at the club and is offered a job as Don Pascual's driver, which leads to him too getting involved with Gracia, with disastrous results for them all. Los Debutantes has been compared to Pulp Fiction with its structure of of three intertwining narratives, but this is a smaller, less ambitious project. By showing the same sequence of events through the different perspectives of Victor, Silvio and Gracia, director Waissbluth gradually reveals more and more of the big picture, involving blackmail and eventually murder. The idea works well but is let down by a sloppy resolution which fails to satisfy after such a promising build up. There's plenty of sex of violence but little style, and the direction feels flat and is clearly suffering from budgetary restrictions. Rios stands out as the alluring Gracia giving an assured and sexy performance, and both Miranda and Cantillana play the naive brothers nicely, reminding me of the two lads in Y Tu Mama Tambien. It's an interesting film and the attraction of Rios always keeps you watching, yet without any real answers to Gracia's motivations it's ultimately a soulless exercise. Now, back to that whipped cream...

soulmining rating: ***