Dance with the Devil (1997)

One of my all time favorites.

Admirable film.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A psychotic criminal called Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem) is a dangerous exponent of the Vodoo-like cult , Santeria , he meets his match in femme-fatal Tex-Mex , Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez) . The couple nevertheless finds time along the way and abducts a random teenager duo named Duane (Harley Cross) and Estelle (Aimee Graham) for a forced march on the wild side . The woman rapes the male captive, and lets him watch his lover being raped by the man. They then plan to sacrifice the couple . The story kicks in when Romeo has to transport a lorryload of live foetuses across the border , being relentlessly pursued by a stubborn officer ,Willie 'Woody' Dumas , (James Gandolfini) .This hallucinatory weirdness is a full-on surreal action movie with a wild ride that blends thrills , a lot of fun , sleazeball local color , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of underlying seriousness , horror , comedy and embarrassing situations . Packed with scenes of disagreeable nature , this fantasy-fuelled is exciting as well as frightening , as we follow the strange situations of a peculiar couple and a pair of teens whose destination is dictated by terrible events . The picture is rated ¨R¨ for its crude violence , grisly killings , lashings of sexual abandon , lots of nudism , gore and guts . The narration is so filled with quirk characters , crazy violence mixed with diabolic elements and an underlying sense of horror and gore , and it is so excessive and plenty of surprises, one can't help but keep watching, much as it is over the top in many an occasion . In the picture there is a marvelous homage by inter-cutting of footage from Robert Aldrich's excellent Mexican Western ¨Veracruz¨ and its main actor , Burt Lancaster . Overacting and excessive acting by Javier Bardem as Santero Romeo Dolorosa and nice acting by Rosie Perez as Tex-Mex Perdita who was first incarnated by Isabella Rosselini at ¨David Lynch's Wild and heart¨ also based in a novel by Barry Gifford . Javier Bardem and Carlos Bardem got badly burnt due to excessive gunpowder and a badly synchronized explosion caused by a special effects technician ; another crew member got second and third degree burns in 80% of his body . Very good support cast plenty of familiar faces such as Don Stroud as Santos , Demian Bichir as Catalina , Carlos Bardem -Javier's brother- as Reggie San Pedro , Screamin' Jay Hawkins as Adolfo , Santiago Segura as Shorty Dee and special mention to recently deceased the great James Gandolfini . Good cinematography by Flabio Martinez Labiano , excellent cameraman of ¨Non-stop , Unknown , Day of Beast , Time crimes , 800 bullets¨ , among others ; he's Alex De La Iglesia's usual photographer . Thrilling and stirring musical score by Simon Boswell . Spanish filmmaker Alex De La Iglesia tackles efficiently the further adventures of Perdita , being compellingly directed and it barely quickens the pulse , though 'Bigas Luna' was first slated to direct the film . When Bigas was due to direct the film, Madonna, Javier Bardem and Dennis Hopper were his first choices to play the main roles . Alex De La Iglesia is a cool director who has got much success as ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨ and this ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made , being De La Iglesia's English-language debut shot in USA . And of course 'La Comunidad' obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and results to be a lot of fun, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor , it won several Goya prizes and a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . In ¨Perdita Durango¨ there is nonsense, ridicule , violence , sex , absurdity , disturbing scenes and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . It captures the essence of the best Álex De La Iglesia, a filmmaker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for thriller buffs and Alex De Iglesia fans.

Bad girl Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez) meets her match when she teams up with villain Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem), he is an all round criminal who is also the grandson of a witch, in his spare time he sacrifices innocents in a form of voodoo ceremony. Perdita wants to kidnap some gringo's, kill them and eat them, but before they do all this, Romeo is hired to steal a consignment of human foetuses for a criminal boss who wants to use them for beauty products? In the mean time though Perdita and Romeo take great pleasure in scaring the hell out of a young blond couple they have kidnapped, after raping their respective captives they are told they are going to die in a sacrificial ceremony. There are flys in the ointment though, an FBI agent Willie 'Woody' Dumas(James Gandolfini) is in hot pursuit.as are a bunch of criminals looking for money they are owed by Romeo. Yet another darkly comic thriller from de la Iglesia, Perdita Durango combines aspects of Tarantino, The Coens and even David Lynch into one crazy demented film. There are some aspects that are rather hideous, the delight of killing and raping that the main protagonists have will surely alienate the majority of viewers, but still I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it all the same. I usually hate Perez, but here for once she really inhabits her character to perfection, Bardem is also sensational especially when he does his "voodoo" trances. The film is uber stylish and always surprising, what more could one ask for?

This film came as something of a surprise. A friend lent me the DVD and this is apparently the full, uncut version of a film which seems to have suffered (as usual) at the hands of the overzealous censors. Leave such films alone! They stand on their own.The film begins with Rosie Perez and ends with her, telling a story in between of a priest of Santeria (not Voodoo, they are different religions) played brilliantly and with much glee by the extraordinary Javier Bardem. Bardem hooks up with Perez as they head north, through the American border on a couple of jobs. The first of these jobs being to conduct dark, Santeria based rituals with his friend. The second being to do a job involving driving a truck full of human foetal material for clinics doing cosmetic surgery and getting very well paid for it. The two also drag along a couple of 'gringos', a scared young couple whom they proceed to collectively seduce and later 'sacrifice' in one of Dolorosa's ceremonies. All this and they are pursued by a member of the DEA or James Gandolfini who seems to find himself getting more and more injured in accidents as the film progresses.The film is violent, no doubt about it and not for the faint hearted. It is also incredibly sexy. The director seems to make full use of the fact that Bardem is a bit of a Spanish hunk, him spending most of the film in leather. That said, Bardem is amazing. The sub-plot of him being a priest of Santeria gives the director an opportunity to film Bardem in full-on 'devil' type mode, spitting blood at people and throwing body parts around. Strong stuff indeed.

"Wild at Heart" was originally a novel by Barry Gifford. Although "Perdita Durango is not directed by David Lynch and has Rosie Perez instead of Isabella Rosselini as Perdita; it's still one awesome road trip. The screenplay was written by Gifford and the film is directed by Alex de le Inglesia, the guy who gave you "Accion Mutante". Rosie Perez gives the performance of her career as ruthless bad girl "Perdita Durango". Her boyfriend Romeo (Javier Bardem) is a criminal and bank robber who's into black magic. He has to deliver a truck of baby fetus' to Las Vegas for his mob boss Santos. Both Perdita and Romeo are so deranged that they make Mickey and Mallory Knox of "Natural Born Killers" look like something out of a Disney movie. Perdita and Romeo kidnap a white virgin couple for his ritualistic sacrifice; the annoying but lovable couple Duane and Estelle. The film is very disturbing with its dark tone. You'll either be laughing one minute or cringing the next. Also look for James Gandalfini as Willie Dumas, a down on his luck sheriff. Perdita Durango is one crazy chaotic road trip of sex and violence. The US version is called "Dance with the Devil" and is trimmed by a couple minutes. Do yourself a favor and track down a copy of the uncut international version.