NICOTINA
Directed by: Hugo Rodriguez.
Produced by: Laura Imperiale & Martha Sosa.
Written by: Martín Salinas.
Director of Photography: Marcello Iaccarino.
Edited by: Alberto de Toro.
Released by: Arenas Entertainment.
Language: Spanish with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Mexico/Argentina/Spain. 93 min. Rated: R.
With: Diego Luna, Marta Beláustegui, Rafael Inclán & Rosa María Bianchi.

Over the course of one night in Mexico City, meek computer whiz kid Lolo (Diego Luna) hacks into a Swiss bank's database, copying account numbers onto a CD to be sold to a Russian gangster. Bespectacled Lolo appears to be harmless, but he has planted Web cameras and a microphone in the apartment of his promiscuous neighbor (Marta Beláustegui). An attempt to squish a huge cockroach turns the CD exchange into a shooting spree followed by revenge, blood and (literally) guts. The Russian flees to his barber to change his appearance while a character in the background, Carmen (Rosa María Bianchi), metastasizes into a cross between Lady Macbeth and Mrs. Lovett of Fleet Street. As its many story lines collide, Nicotina makes effective use of the split screen.

With a steady pace, and plenty of twists and turns, it's easy to overlook the film's tinge of misogyny as Lolo harasses and humiliates his neighbor, and Carmen morphs into a monster. Nicotina is light and diverting, but not nearly as intricate or hard-hitting as this year's other Tarantino-inspired romp Intermission. Ultimately, it is series of coincidences and misunderstandings in which nicotine is to Nicotina what the Big Mac was to Pulp Fiction. But like a puff of smoke, its impression quickly fades away. Kent Turner
August 20, 2004