Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This awful piece of trash is merely an excuse to once again show horrific violence on screen and have the criminals go unpunished. I'm so tired of filmmakers who portray this sort of thing under the guise of "art." Despite a few interesting plot twists and some fine acting, this is not art... it's moral depravity.Worse, it's depravity with that clichéd, flash-bang editing and photography that we've now seen in a MILLION movies. That's always a dead giveaway... if there were anything interesting to film, the director wouldn't have to keep moving the camera.This Tarantino wannabe needs to retire, quickly.

This is a fast-paced thriller about the kidnapping of a rich young couple after a night of clubbing and drug-taking in Caracas. The group then drive through the night and into the next day while they wait for the couple's parents to come up with the ransom money. The plot is full of twists and turns, and it was quite entertaining. However, a lot of what happens does not seem very realistic. I have the overriding impression that the movie is trying too hard to be cool and not trying hard enough to tell a convincing story.Channelling the spirit of Tarantino, the gang of kidnappers are often funny though sometimes horribly cruel. They repeatedly justify their criminal activity, explaining that "half the city is starving". In general, though, the movie's efforts to discuss the social issues in Caracas are not well done. It also doesn't help the movie's progressive credentials that the homosexual characters are treated in such an unsympathetic manner.As for the abducted couple, they don't inspire sympathy. Martin is a rich and selfish pretty boy who enjoys taking lots of drugs and, it turns out, has been indulging in homosexual encounters for years, unbeknownst to his fiancé Carla. She is also pretty and rich, but unlike Martin, she has a social conscience. She volunteers at a public hospital and is considering whether to let a poor, sick child come and live in her home. However, she seems to think that her volunteer work entitles her to better treatment from the kidnappers. She also shares Martin's partying and drug-taking lifestyle. Oddly, she also starts to bond with the kidnappers, chatting with them and repeatedly helping them get out of jams.The director has thrown many twists and turns into the plot, but it would have been better if each was more fully developed. For example, when the despicable Martin has a chance to escape from the kidnappers, he abandons Carla without even going to seek help for her. Instead he tries to take a taxi home, but it turns out the driver is in cahoots with the kidnappers and returns Martin to them. This was a surprising (if unlikely) twist, and was one of many bizarre little twists thrown into the plot. I think it could have been done more cleverly by explaining why Martin didn't immediately go to the police and by somehow making it more likely that he'd end up in the hands of the kidnappers' friend.

"Secuestro Express" began as a project for a short. Jonathan Jakubowickz had written a story and Sandra Condito and Elizabeth Avellán, among others, wanted to make it happen. For reasons that don't matter to me, the short became a full-length feature film, the hours became longer, the work became harder… The result makes notorious that it was supposed to be a short, because it runs obligatorily too long. However, it's a total thrill and it keeps your eyes on the screen for its hour and a half. After Jakubowickz made his story longer, the characters took shape, and what could have been a tale of soulless kidnappers, is a glance at human beings who care for their city, even when they do what they do.Jakubowickz' ferocious camera is a representation of the Venezuelan reality; it moves unsure, it accelerates constantly. With guts and courage, the director puts his imagination in motion, and shows to us the two sides of the city; the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the ones who eat and the ones who can't, the ones who live and the ones who are dying. The Latin American reality is not far from what Jakubowickz presents. In fact, there are thousands of kidnappings like the ones this movie illustrates, every day."Express"; quick, effective and only sometimes successful. The types of persons, who do this; act, dress and talk like the film's kidnapping threesome: Nigga Sibilino, Budú and their leader Trece. Interestingly, this is how these three men call themselves artistically. They are part of a hip-hop band called "3 Dueños". Jakubowickz got to them by listening to their music, and the characters he wrote for them fit perfectly with their personalities; he knows it and they know it.One of the many highlights of this picture is that all the characters are very close to the actors' realities. The three kidnappers come originally from the suburbs, and they didn't have to make an effort for their portrayals; they had it in them. A permanent improvisation is clearly noticeable and it reassures the "reality" of the film. When the three of them grab Martín (Jean Paul Leroux) and Carla (Mía Maestro) and scream: "Don't look at my face", they say it because it works like that.They are not joking with the guns they carry with them, they are not joking when they call Carla's father (the genius Ruben Blades), and they are not joking with the drugs they purchase from Marcelo (Ermahn Ospina), a Colombian and homosexual dealer. The scenes that the movie develops are determined by a voice that announces the time ("5 a.m., in Caracas"). The best moments are the ones you feel connected to, because you identify with them. When they are stopped by the police, for example; and a simple exchange fixes the situation.When Trece talks to Carla about the city and about what's going on. "What's the secret?", she inquires. Trece explains, and you easily realize that Carlos Molina put the most commitment into his character. He achieves something there, there's an emotion felt that Pedro Pérez and Carlos Madera lack. If what the film's doing is leaving a message, I respect it. But that message won't make anyone change, because it takes a lot more in a world like this one.What I can say for sure are two things: "Secuestro Express" is a calling to Venezuelan cinema, these days when it's so difficult to make a complete movie; and it is so real and so true, that you will be scared to be out on the street after watching it.

This film, along with "Man on Fire" proves that kidnapping surely makes for good drama. "Secuestro Express" shows the underbelly of a society that is decaying as we speak, a place torn apart by economics and class differences, and a place that is unforgiving and cruel to most of its population.The 24-hour drama follows a kidnapped couple and their victimizers as their drama unfolds. "Secuestro Express" is rawer than its American predecessor, with its crude language, relentless references to social abuse and sexual references. There are times when I couldn't help feeling sick in my stomach because here was a film where anything could happen. The dialog is frank, the portrayals are very realistic, and the tone of the film is very dark. There are almost no moments when one can feel any respite from the tragedies happening on the screen.Maestro does a wonderful job as the victim who fully understands what is happening to her and her fiancé and might at times relate to her captors' experience. The last 15 minutes of the film are likely to provoke some heated discussion, as the film reaches its climax. Special mention should go to the actor portraying Budu, a new villain to match in the annals of cinema.Overall the film delivers and barely misses reaching perfect score because of its production values. Nevertheless its very assured direction, impressive camera-work, and excellent acting prove that bloated budgets and talentless actors might be an endangered species.