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Features: DVD
Lolo (Diego Luna) is a computer hacker that teams with two amateur criminals in a deal with a Russian mobster involving the exchange of diamonds for computer access to Swiss bank accounts. However, Lolos obsession with a woman will distract his focus leading to a terrible mistake that will blow the entire deal. The lives of ten unsuspecting individuals will explode in one tumultuous night. The fortune in diamonds will quickly intoxicate everyone with the allure of an easy life and a greed that will transform into a fiery desperation. When the haze finally clears, computers have been hacked, people have been whacked and lives have gone up in a cloud of smoke.
"Supercharged with an energy and ingenuity that "Run Lola Run" once had a patent on." David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
"...[a] cool, stylish Mexican heist-gone-wrong comedy." Los Angeles Times
"It arrests with violent bursts and anxious pauses until its three plots merge in a satisfying resolution..." Louis R. Carlozo, Chicago Tribune
"This macabre caper is laced with enough sly black humor to make it a treat for connoisseurs of nihilistic entertainment." Movieline's Hollywood Life
"A gimmick film, but it's brought off with such verve it's great fun." Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
Editor's Note
Diego Luna (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN) stars as Lolo, a perverted computer hacker involved in a mixed-up mess of love, murder, and tobacco in this farcical Mexico City nocturne. On the night he's supposed to trade a hacked bank access code in exchange for some Russian mob diamonds, Lolo's attractive neighbor Andrea (Marta Belátustegui) discovers he's been spying on her and torches his computer discs--one of which held the password. Naturally his two thuggish partners, Nene (Lucas Crespi) and Tomson (Jesús Ochoa) aren't pleased, nor is the Russian mobster waiting with the diamonds (Norman Sotolongo). Everyone here is either a chain-smoker or trying to quit, including the lovelorn drugstore lady (Carmen Madrid) who develops a cigarette-sharing bond with Nene to the chagrin of her loathsome husband (Daniel Gimenéz Cacho). Eventually everyone turns not only irritable but greedy and double-crossing once they get a whiff of the diamonds. And even Tomson's barber (Rafael Inclán) and his overbearing wife (Rosa María Bianchi) get in on the act. There's plenty of Tarantino-esque philosophical discussion centering on free will and coincidence, which ties in with the greed and addiction themes. Produced by the team behind AMORES PERROS, this was a huge, award-winning hit in Mexico. The action all takes place during one night, in real time, and is shot with an intriguingly washed-out color palette.
| Features | Audio: Spanish | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: FIRST LOOK HOME ENTERTAIN |
| Release Date: 7/24/2007 |
| Running Time: 93 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 11919 | | UPC: 00687797119193 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Movieline's Hollywood Life
"This macabre caper is laced with enough sly black humor to make it a treat for connoisseurs of nihilistic entertainment." 09/01/2004 p.115Los Angeles Times
"[A] cool, stylish Mexican heist-gone-wrong comedy." 08/20/2004 p.E4 Haro Online 7 of 10
Everybody in Nicotina smokes. What is the significance of this? Nothing. What is the point of this film? Hard to say. Nicotina is what happens when somebody enjoys Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction, all of its derivative films, then decides to make a derivative of a derivative. There are some interesting stylistic touches, but for the most part, this film is a jumble of characters running around in search of a plot. There is basically no plot. What starts off as an elaborate scheme to steal money from a bank fizzles, and Nicotina follows the various principals around as things keep going wrong, people keep getting killed, and an ever-increasing amount of people get drawn into the happenings. The one definite thing is that there are no good guys in this movie...The mood is nice...But Nicotina needs a lot more than this to be a better movie.
Eye Weekly 8 of 10
A fun but derivative film, Nicotina is a real-time black comedy of nightmarish coincidences about a tech geek, Lolo (Y Tu Mama Tambien's Diego Luna), who accidentally gives the wrong computer disk to some Russian gangsters. At stake are a bunch of diamonds; also involved are some good-guy crooks, a barber and his venal wife and a couple who own a pharmacy. Close enough to Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to make no difference, Nicotina delivers the predictable in a blur of phone calls, gunshots and lightning-fast editing. - Catharine Tunnacliffe
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