Rosario Tijeras (2005)
Rosario Tijeras has been abused by men all her life, initially by her stepfather. Years later, she works as a paid assassin, seducing men and killing them when they least expect it. She meets Emilio, a wealthy womanizer, and his best friend, Antonio, at a nightclub, and starts an affair with Emilio despite Antonio's growing feelings for her. But circumstances bring her closer to Antonio, until her past catches up with her in a devastating way.
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A Disappointing Continuation
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Really enjoyed the movie, which is a hard-hitting tale of drugs sex and death in 1980's Colombia. It is all shot in what appears to be the actual locations in the streets and poor barrios of Medellin and acting by all the actors is very good and realistic, the music brings back many good memories and although the film is extremely drug and sex orientated it continues on a, reasonably easy to follow, central theme with great flashbacks etc to relate the story. Flora Martinez is superb...and very, very sexy! :-) I hadn't heard of this film before and I see that the original comments were in 2005, it has just been released (not sure if it is limited or general release) in Spain (I'm in Barcelona) but it is well worth going to see - not for children or those of a weak disposition! ;-)
In MHO this is probably the best film shot in Colombia to date. This film excels primarily due to the electrifying performance of the Colombian actress Flora Martinez in the role of Rosario Tijeras, a young and dangerous girl that works as a hit-woman to the Medellin drug cartel in the late 1980's. Not only does the beautiful and talented Ms. Martinez realistically portraits the tormented girl that always gives a kiss before shooting to death his victims, but the rest of the cast gives a highly convincing performance. I didn't blink seeing the picture and neither will you....Spanish actor Unax Ugalde gives an excellent performance as Antonio, the only pure soul to come close to the star-crossed Rosario. Some failings in pronouncing the local 'paisa' accent of Medellin, IMHO, doesn't in any way diminish his convincing performance.Colombian actor Manolo Cardona, acting as Rosario's boyfriend Emilio, did also a very powerful performance, although he doesn't reach his co-stars levels. Equally convincing are the performances of Mexican actor Rodrigo Oviedo as the hit-man Johnefe, Rosario's brother, and of Colombian actor Alonso Arias as the dangerous Rosario's former boyfriend Ferney.The Mexican director Emilio Maillé did a very good job in this, his first full length feature film. Congratulations! The Marcelo Figueras's adapted script from the original novel by Jorge Franco maintains all the elements of this tale which will become part of Latin America's mythology. In my opinion, the Figueras's script clears some blind spots of the bookFilmed on location in Medellin, including the old living quarters of the henchmen of the Medellin drug cartel, this Mexican-American-Colombian production never looses pace in a frantic and crude vertigo of sex, drugs, tragedy, and violence.Don't miss it!
I went to go see this movie this summer in my visit to Colombia. I was completely under the movie's spell, went to see it twice. The character is so raw, so corrupted, but they demonstrate the beauty that can come from someone who's lived in her own hell. My family is originally from Colombia, so I understand the situations well. I saw a comment on a message board here saying that she wasn't a convincing hit-man...obviously you aren't familiar with the situations in Colombia, I've known of many female hit men that were beautiful...they just grew up in the wrong neighborhoods. Beauty isn't only found in the high-class society...it's everywhere, and if anything, her beauty gives her even more power. The fact that the movie goes back and forth, always returning the beginning of everything, and relating it to the end keeps you in tuned, its clever that the director chose not to point out the changes in time throughout the film...it keeps it flowing...no interruptions from the world that this movie has sucked you in. The main character has such a beautiful pain within her, you come out of the theater in love with her...whether you're are a man or woman..she'll dazzle you. The actors in this movie did an incredible job as well.Overall, this movie mixes the drama of life, and laughs at it at some points. You're guaranteed to cry, laugh, gasp, claw your nails in your seat...and come out replaying all the scenes in your head.
Rosario is the personification of the girl from the low barrios of Medellín-Colombia (ej. Comuna nor-oriental). Rosario is the kind of girl who knows how to survive the world where she was born, places of violence and drugs and basically no love, until she's given the same poison she use to give. Flora Martinez characterizes Rosario in a wonderful way. Some things that don't go well with this film are the coincidence in musical theme with Maria full of grace and some repeated scenes in car over the same bridge. However, I recommend you read Jorge Franco's original book where this movie was adapted from (www.jorge-franco.com). This is the best Colombian movie since Maria full of grace.