Nicotina (2003) User Reviews

Average as most recent mexican films.

[David-M · 6/10 · 10 October 2003]

There is a problem in the mexican film industry: the mexican directors and producers are filming basically light comedies. Their main goal is to recover their investment, they think that comedies with a simple plot is the best way to bring people to see their movies (and pay for a ticket to do it) So, most of the recent mexican movies are comedies and most of them have a great technical realization but with a poor argument. And off course, the actors are repeating the same characters over and over again.

Nicotina is just another urban comedy. As simple As that. The film hasn't any improvement at all. The plot, and the situations are very familiar with some previous films like "Todo el Poder" or "Ciudades oscuras" Here in mexico we're waiting for a breakthru motion picture, with a good and trascendental plot...Since "Amores Perros" or "Y tu mamá también" the mexican films are just the same.

nicotina is 6 out of 10.

EXAMPLE OF MEXICAN CINEMA THAT IS DIFFERENT!

[Tony-Kiss-Castillo · 8/10 · 9 January 2024]

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!

Don't believe the hype, this film has nothing on Amores Perros

[Decay049 · 6/10 · 21 August 2004]

I saw a cut of this film back in February in order to cut a trailer for American audiences. I must say that I was not impressed after viewing it. The film started off interesting and silly, but as the plot unfolded it really had no where to go. Actor Diego Luna has done some fine work in his previous films, but he phoned this performance in.

Also, film makers felt that they should use a Guy Richie style of editing in order to spice the film up and give it some edge, but all that did was make the film look contrived.

Right now they are trying to market this film like it's Amores Perros, but this film is absolutely nothing like it, wait till video to see this film.

Mediocre at best

[suppafly · 6/10 · 6 October 2003]

I went to watch this movie because my girlfriend is a fan of Diego Luna. However, i just didnt get excited at any minute of the movie. Its the story of a young hacker in mexico city who steals passwords from swiss banks accounts, and tries to sell them to the russian mob. The story is kind of boring, and the humor is average at best. My recommendation is: dont spend any money watching this in the movies....MAYBE it will be worth the rental price in a few months from now. 2 1/2 out of 5 stars...

Right ingredients, right mix, Mexican flavor

[elponce77 · 13 September 2004]

Great actors (and specially actresses), well defined characters (again women make the best), an interesting plot, hilarious situations and decent dialogs make this contemporary mix of violence, action and comedy not a must but a good option. Familiarity with Mexican and Argentinean culture is a plus to fully enjoy the film, although the story is by itself good enough for everyone.

Extraordinary, intense and absurd as life in Latin America can be, this is a story that fits just right in a city like Mexico.

Do not expect to see something like Amores Perros or Y tu mamá también, but rather something like Snatch with a Mexican flavor.

Its very much fun, not more not less

[beni-7 · 7/10 · 8 December 2005]

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.

That's one of the few things in life worth living for.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 25 July 2009]

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.

An excellent dark comedy!

[bigfilmfan · 9/10 · 14 June 2004]

For those moviegoers who enjoyed Guy Richie's Snatch, you definitely will be entertained this Mexican film. This film from the producers of Amores Perros won several Ariels, which is the equivalent of the Oscars. The film has superb performances from Deigo Luna and Rafael Inclan.

Basically, the film takes place in Mexico City over a span of an hour and a half. The trouble begins when a computer geek attempts to ruin the romantic tryst of his beautiful neighbor. Unfortunately, he gets caught and in a fit of rage, she burns several computer disks, including one with important codes. This sets off a chain of an unbelievable events that will captivate and entertain the audience. The film is wild.

Some of the humor is very Mexican. However, everybody will enjoy this particular film. Some of the characters in this film are completely nuts. Nicotina illustrates what happens to people when they are overcome by greed.

Average

[sprichnichtzumir · 7/10 · 4 October 2021]

This movie feels very similar to Matando Cabos, but this one is just weirder and not that funny. It's entertaining, that's for sure, but sometimes it feels lame, I don't know if it's because of the acting, the music or the cinematography, maybe all three, but I don't have enough cinema knowledge to explain it wisely.

Anyways, this movie is a very pleasant experience, but don't watch it if you're expecting to see a masterpiece.

Diluted Pulp Fiction from Producer of Amores Perros

[jazzest · 4/10 · 8 September 2004]

As the director Hugo Rodriguez referred the film by Quentin Tarantino at the preview screening at Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York City (August 18, 2004), this new Mexican film is highly influenced by Pulp Fiction, similar to the producer Martha Sosa Elizondo's previous film Amores Perros. Most Pulp-Fiction-like ingredients--interlocked stories about four groups of people (not nonlinear, though), two gangsters' insignificant conversation on smoking and coincidence, extreme close-ups of objects--are so light that the audience may feel even irritated. Drawing the viewers' attention to a specific happening on a part of the screen with a rectangle is cheesy and redundant; even without it the viewers would look at what the filmmakers want them to watch. The title may be inappropriate as cigarette doesn't have a significant meaning in the plot.

Addictively fun

[carmelita-4 · 8/10 · 10 March 2005]

A voyeuristic computer nerd (Diego Luna) figures out a way to make some extra cash by providing his services to anyone that will hire him. He does a job for his buddy, who in turn is going to sell the information to the Russian Mob (or at least one member of the mob), in exchange for 22 diamonds. The camera brings us along for the ride. Fast paced action features a crisscross of characters making their way through el D.F.The story line runs in 'real time', don't blink, just keep up (don't miss the gross out scene with the barber's wife) . Some people compare it to Pulp Fiction, I saw more Tampopo then Travolta.

Nice eye candy in the form of Lucas Crespi and Diego Luna. Excellent soundtrack. A little Run Lola Run, a little Amores Perros, some Lock, Stock...all and all, a good movie, take a long drag and exhale.

Nicotina...I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin

[juliankennedy23 · 5/10 · 11 June 2009]

Nicotina: 5 out of 10: Nicotina represents a black comedy tradition that has been alive and well in Mexico for over fifty years. Death is around every corner and it is a punch line to boot. All the men are womanizers and many of the women are no better. 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 switching computer bank codes with a Russian gangster for diamonds. 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 possible future 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, the film is nice. It is a pleasant, good time. It is not particularly scary, thrilling, funny, sexy, or clever and that is it’s 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,

Fun but pretty inconsequential

[hypersquared · 16 December 2003]

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.

Funny Mex mix

[toocoolo · 8/10 · 9 October 2003]

I like this movie. Besides of the great cast, great actors and performance, the story is very nice. There are not many dark-humor movies made in mexico.

Very well done. Good budget, i guess.

The story reminds me of movies like "Snatch" (2000) or "Pulp Fiction" (1994), and we don't get stories like that very often in our mexican movies.

An easy, viewer-frendly, "im-gonna-have-a-good-time-for-a-couple-of-hours" type of movie.

"Don't smoke...It kills"

[jpschapira · 5/10 · 10 December 2005]

I'm not very fond of co-productions between different countries, mostly between Spanish-speaking countries; but is something that is done a lot today and I have to accept it. Mexico has a very wide range of film and an important filmography inside of Latin America's countries. But…There's always one but. Lots of soap-operas are done in Mexico too, and there's a lot of television.

And as I said, many times television looks like movies, which is good, but also movies look like television; which is absolutely terrible. "Nicotina" starts as silent as a telephonic call; with one line in the screen that represents a person talking, and another one that represents another person, and so it goes. It also has the usual black screen with anything on it, typical of directors that don't take risks.

The story follows Lolo, a hacker lost in the lust of her neighbor Andrea's love, who has to enter an account to get money for el Nene, who drives with Tomson, and has to pay a Russian mobster that will sell some much cherished diamonds to him. This leads to shoots and encounters in different places, like Goyo's and his wife Barbershop, or Beto's and his wife Pharmacy.

The actors are Marta Belaustegui, Lucas Crespi, Jesús Ochoa, Norman Sotolongo, Rafael Inclán, Rosa María Bianchi, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carmen Madrid and Diego Luna; and they all accomplish their portrayals very well. The latter one is the cover of the film, or the most known of the actors nowadays. I won't tell his whole story, but I will say that being the reason many people saw the movie, he doesn't deliver.

What ensue are multiple talks between all of the characters. Not any talks, but insightful, interesting, metaphoric talks that ultimately seem to lead to the film's title. And the writer, Martin Salinas, is probably the most prepared man of the crew, whose first words for a movie got Norma Aleandro an Oscar nomination. He has written for series, for movies in two languages…

This script, however, presents a contradiction. We can't tell if his plot is an excuse to develop these conversations, or even worse, if the conversations are an excuse to fill the incoherent plot. And it's right there, in the plot, where the film has its defined problems. The ending is fantastic indeed, and thought provoking, but we get confused during the road, and we don't feel the time.

When Goyo's wife is about to shoot him, the shot changes to another scenario. Strangely and incorrectly, when the camera goes back to the couple's barbershop, the woman is still holding the gun…After five minutes. Is not only Salinas' fault but director Hugo Rodriguez's; because he prefers not to take risks during his second feature.

And he can't manage the timing. And it looks like television. And I didn't plan to stay home.

Shhhht, it sucks

[sergemelomano · 1/10 · 4 March 2006]

I'm totally sure this is the worst movie i have ever seen in my whole life. And don't get me wrong, i love Diego Luna and the way he works and acts but this movie, the director, filmography, the history it self was pretty bad, and i was just waiting for it to end. I was with my girlfriend and we saw it together. We are both Argentines and she loves Latin films but she totally agrees with me. Don't lose time and money, don't even try this one! Love's a Bitch, Nine Queens , Cidade DE Deus if you wanna give south America/Latin America movies a try but this one wasn't supposed to be even filmed My vote was 1 because there's no 0 Salutes

Smoke , Diamonds & Blood

[Chrysanthepop · 9 June 2010]

'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.

A relief after later mexican movies

[pablo6681 · 9 October 2003]

After later mexican movies like Corazón de Melón, Sin ton ni Sonia, etc., this one seemed to me as an improvement. I know it may not be the kind of Amores Perros art movie, but to me, the script was way smarter, comparing with recent work. I had laughed at those earlier movies, but because of I thought that was a joke. The thing sort of, how could they having that money make a movie like that? This time, though, I dare to say, this is not the case. And also, this may not be the kind of action like Bad Boys II. But you don't see exaggerated stuff here, but rather accurate comments, or at least, not stupid scripts. I give it 7/10