EL CRIMEN FERPECTO

Dir. Alex de la Iglesia

Oh, my god! This movie is hillarious. It not quite the height of the director's form like "Day of the Beast" but it's a pretty entertaining black comedy. The papers list the film with a typo, spelling it incorrectly as El Crimen Perfecto, but it's actually translated as "The Ferpect Crime," not "Perfect Crime." It deals with a department store salesman who woos all the ladies with his charm and superior selling skills. When he gets into an argument with a rival salesman, they scuffle and the rival is killed on a changing room clothes hook. What initially seems like a pretty weak premise to hang an entire move on, soon morphs into a rediculous story of romantic blackmail, as the only witness to the crime is the one woman the department store salesman hasn't slep with. She turns her knowledge into power and uses her position to controll the man's life. As with all de la Iglesia's other films, there are very subtle social observations embeded in the story, though if you weren't looking for them you wouldn't think much of it. He takes plenty of subtle jabs at privilege, class and attractiveness, but it isn't a social critique, it's a silly dark comedy with enough edge to give you a jolt without the meanness that's inherent in many American films in the same vein.

Shows @ 7:15pm June 7 and 2pm June 9 @ Neptune