But hey, in the meanwhile Noir City, the Home Game continues and this time you are all invited to watch along with me. Spoiler: I loved it.
This film absolutely knocked me out. An elusive child killer terrorizes the city until underworld denizens take the law into their own hands.
For starters, this version is much pulpier and more straight forward. None of this complicated cultural subtext or deeper meaning, just lots of gripping suspense, brutal violence and hot chicks in their underwear. And speaking of chicks, unlike the original or the American remake, this movie has plenty. Curvaceous Olga Zubarry, known as the Argentine Marilyn Monroe, gives a surprisingly powerful and sympathetic performance. Opposite this feminine trifecta is the killer himself, brilliantly played by Nathan Pinzon who was apparently known for light comedy before tackling this role.
This is also a gorgeous film. Shadowy, gritty and at times claustrophobic with lots of super tight close-up of sweaty, disheveled faces. Hollywood was always too kind to its female stars, softening and smoothing away every flaw with pancake makeup, special lighting and gauzy filters, but the women in this movie are refreshingly raw and earthy, with messy hair and smeared lipstick, which somehow makes them seem even sexier.
And I wish I could find some stills of the disgustingly filthy yet hauntingly beautiful Buenos Aires sewer systems in which the climactic scene takes place. Weird, almost freakish homeless people who rake through the raw sewage for coins and other dropped valuables are the ones who take it upon themselves to chase the killer down in a sequence clearly inspired by the Third Man but WAY more vile and smelly-looking. Mistress Christa says check it the fuck out.
