I've been postponing mi viewing of Perico Ripiao since its premiere. That was until tonight.
I wasn't expecting anything fancy and that's exactly what I received: A less than good piece of cinema with some funny moments now and then.
The movie begins with a truck full of soldiers escorting some prisoners to god knows where. Suddenly the bus comes to a halt and the driver (by the way, one pretty annoying character) has to fix it. Having fixed the bus they needed someone to push it for it to start. Who do they get to push the bus? None other than the prisoners. When the bus starts it drives away without the prisoners and they barely escape only to be caught again when the soldiers realize they left the criminals behind. And all this happen in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
What can I say? The script is so badly written that I saw myself hitting the edge of my seat in disbelief every now and then. The plot has a lot of holes in it. Sometimes there's just no explanation for a given scene, it just sits there. Introducing new characters only to dispose of them five minutes later. And the movie is void of a proper ending.
The acting is somewhat balanced. I think Manolo Ozuna does a great job.
The direction of photography is very good. The night scenes are very well rendered.
The music is also very good. Only complaint is the lack of coherence in the musical sequences between the instruments you see on screen and the ones you actually hear. Where's the bass guitar? Perhaps it annoys me most because I'm a musician. But it annoyed me nevertheless.
All this aside, I think Perico Ripiao is a very good effort. Angel Muñiz did an admirable job making a film in a country where films are null. It was great team work, considering the conditions they were working on. I just hope Dominican cinema to grow in the future, being a director wannabe myself and knowing there are a lot of talented people just waiting to be unleashed here in the Republic.
I give it 3 (***) out of 5 (*****).
I wasn't expecting anything fancy and that's exactly what I received: A less than good piece of cinema with some funny moments now and then.
The movie begins with a truck full of soldiers escorting some prisoners to god knows where. Suddenly the bus comes to a halt and the driver (by the way, one pretty annoying character) has to fix it. Having fixed the bus they needed someone to push it for it to start. Who do they get to push the bus? None other than the prisoners. When the bus starts it drives away without the prisoners and they barely escape only to be caught again when the soldiers realize they left the criminals behind. And all this happen in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
What can I say? The script is so badly written that I saw myself hitting the edge of my seat in disbelief every now and then. The plot has a lot of holes in it. Sometimes there's just no explanation for a given scene, it just sits there. Introducing new characters only to dispose of them five minutes later. And the movie is void of a proper ending.
The acting is somewhat balanced. I think Manolo Ozuna does a great job.
The direction of photography is very good. The night scenes are very well rendered.
The music is also very good. Only complaint is the lack of coherence in the musical sequences between the instruments you see on screen and the ones you actually hear. Where's the bass guitar? Perhaps it annoys me most because I'm a musician. But it annoyed me nevertheless.
All this aside, I think Perico Ripiao is a very good effort. Angel Muñiz did an admirable job making a film in a country where films are null. It was great team work, considering the conditions they were working on. I just hope Dominican cinema to grow in the future, being a director wannabe myself and knowing there are a lot of talented people just waiting to be unleashed here in the Republic.
I give it 3 (***) out of 5 (*****).