I stumbled into this film while channel surfing the other night and couldn't turn it off. There's something compelling about the performances of Javier Bardem and Rosie Perez that transform this film from what could have been a mediocre exploitation film to something well worth watching. There's a lot of original thinking here and luckily the director and editor got the mix just right to pull of a real gem. There is a mix of comedy, romance, evil, pathos and irony blended in a way to keep you off balance and always wondering what's around the next corner (what's with the fetuses?). 7 out of 10.
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Wham-33 May 2002
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PatricioG11 March 1999As one Argentine critic said: "You love it or you hate it" -he rated the movie with an excellent-. I really love it and it´s because there aren´t so many movies such as this. Perdita Durango hasn´t a great plot, but this film really didn´t need it. It doesn´t matter if a scene has nothing to do with the plot, because this film doesn´t care about it. You have to be open-minded to watch it, with not so many expectatives about it, and you will like it very much. Remember that Perdita Durango wasn´t an expensive film. It has very hilarious parts, some gore ones (not so much), action, sex, deaths and some controversial themes and quotes. A nice bundle of things that I personally like in movies. The movie reminds me of some movies such as "Doom generation" and some parts of "From dawn till dusk".
I rate Perdita Durango with a 7 out of 10. -
Bogey Man16 April 2003Álex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango (1997) is an outrageously wild and violent road movie that has greater premise than the actual film. The film is based on the Barry Gifford book as was David Lynch's film Wild at Heart (1990), too, and the character Perdita is the lead character in Iglesia's film whereas she had only a small part in Lynch's much more noteworthy film.
Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez) is an attractive and exotic Mexican girl with violent past and future, as we soon learn. She meets mysterious Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem) who practises some strange and bloody voodoo/Satanism rituals and also needs human victims for his acts he performs for and with some cult. They team up, and start their violent journey near the border of Mexico and the USA in order to steal a huge truck carrying loads of human fetuses for some sleazy pedophiliac mafia boss. Yes it sounds very outrageous and once all the characters are introduced the level of wildness reaches its most breathtaking level.
The film is pretty empty in content for sure, unlike David Lynch's film, for example. It has one quite funny bit of commentary about stupid mediocre TV audience that gets its meaning for life through various TV shows and commercialism related to it, and that is exactly the kind of humor that can be found in Iglesia's another outrageous (gore) comedy Acción Mutante (1993). But mostly Perdita Durango seems to concentrate on sudden and rather shocking bursts of violence and steamy sex that will definitely annoy censors throughout the world. There is a silent moment at the end which tells something about what is happening inside the character's head and what she has learnt but still it could have been a whole serious theme for the film. Also the way how the kidnapped couple change in their dangerous situation is quite repulsive as in that world it seems like the more selfish and mean you are the more you will succeed and survive. The young couple is not used as it should have been if Iglesia would have liked to include some serious and dramatic elements to the film and characters and thus make a more noteworthy piece of powerful film.
The other characters are also very nasty and perverse, completely unable to control their violent and sexual instincts, but they are also quite blackly humorous (the mafia boss, the two FBI agents etc.) and so the tone of the film is not too serious at all. Most of the characters are just animals in the burning heat of the border trying to exploit and survive from each other. Romeo's character is definitely as wicked as they come but still he is far from the effect of Willem Dafoe in Lynch's film, where the character was the other side of human nature, whereas Igleasia never seems to be interested in depicting things so deep in this film. His characters are just bad, violent, miserable and selfish scumbags and there are not too many, or any, normal and safe feeling individuals in the film. The FBI caricature played by a film maker Alex Cox (Repo Man) is quite funny and makes fun on all the serious agent characters of the cinematic history.
The film is far from the greatness of Iglesia's wonderful El Dia de la Bestia aka The Day of the Beast (1995) with its philosophic elements and incredible atmosphere with great visuality. Perdita hasn't got any genuinely interesting and inventive camerawork or cinematic magic and even the rites Romeo commits are not as chilling as in, for example, Wes Craven's Serpent and the Rainbow (1987). The soundtrack by Simon Boswell is mediocre, nothing too special in my opinion even though the director praises his work for this film and in general very much. He is a talented composer but his soundtrack for this film is not so memorable.
I saw the most uncut (minus one 3 seconds image of the mafia boss slapping the face of a little girl, still this brief image is in the Spanish festival print) version released on DVD in Germany, and as far as I know, the Spanish tape is like this DVD, too. But all the other versions released, like the Hong Kong, UK, US, Swedish, Finnish and so on versions on VHS and DVD are severely cut for sex, violence and drug use. The "uncut" version I saw is quite strong at times and includes some scenes of extreme and vicious violence that are also more or less gratuitous to say the least, as well as the numerous sex scenes, but they definitely tell something about the brute instincts of the characters as mentioned. Overall the humor in this film is very black and just plain sick and that comes clear at least with the numerous car crash deaths in the film, so Iglesia is definitely not depicting his characters too heroic or lucky in their ways of life!
Perdita Durango is not deep or meaningful film enough but the ending saves the film from even greater failure. Many will find this entertaining as it has graphic violence, "cool" characters, sex and other forbidden taboos on screen, but if one is looking for a film that has something to say and really concentrate on it so that we can call it a theme, then Perdita Durango is not among the best. Still it could have been so much worse, with bad and stupid actors and characters and boring segments: now it runs 124 PAL minutes but never really feels boring or too long so Iglesia's way to tell the story and cut all the unnecessary parts off is present here. He definitely is a talented director but manages to achieve more than 6/10, too. -
AMadLane22 August 2004I saw six movies in three days at my first Toronto Film Festival -- this one last, after a slow-moving Japanese film, "Afterlife" (which I also enjoyed, and the pace of which set up this film wonderfully). I saw this uncut and on the big screen, and it shot right through my veins like an amphetamine from a slingshot. Javier Bardem is one of those rare actors who is so good, who disappears so far into his roles, that a lot of people still don't know him. Pity -- he's the pivot of this film, the steady-burning sun around which equally dazzling Rosie Perez throbs in her mad ecliptic orbit. The acting is, in fact -- in spite of what you're reading elsewhere here -- perfectly pitched in all quarters. I managed to get an uncut video copy online a few years back from ebay, and it IS true, the movie loses a bit in the translation from big-screen to small, but trust me, it's still a wild ride. I left the theater feeling like I'd been set on fire with gasoline and Vaseline.
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Finally picked DANCE WITH THE DEVIL up after having seen it once or twice on Skinemax a few years back. I remembered it to be a pretty "odd" and violent film, and I was right. There are some problems with the pacing and storyline - but overall, fans of Tarantino-esquire material will probably dig this one.
Rosie Perez plays Perdita Durango, a vicious fire-cracker of a woman who seemingly gets by from one con to the next. After she meets up with an equally (if not moreso...) deranged Santeria priest named Romeo - things really go to hell. Romeo is recruited to drive a truckload of frozen fetuses from Mexico to Vegas, and Perdita is along for the ride. Before the trip, the two decide to kidnap a couple of white-bread college students to sacrifice for good-luck. The rest of the film is a cluster-f!ck of Perdita, Romeo, and the two captives - and their "adventures" on the road - all the while being tailed by the Feds...
DANCE WITH THE DEVIL is not a "perfect" film - as the plot seems to get lost in itself from time to time, and some scenarios and situations seem to be shown for no apparent reason - when the film could have been focusing more on the "action". There's a good bit of violence - and for the most part the film moves pretty quickly. It's hard to put my finger on it - it just feels disjointed at times and loses some of it's momentum towards the middle. Regardless - it's a pretty decent film with good performances and a pretty "out-there" storyline. James Gandolfini as the main Fed tailing them is a pleasure as always...7.5/10 -
ma-cortes6 April 2014A 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. -
SnoopyStyle4 November 2016Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem) is a voodoo Santeria priest bank robber. He meets hardcore Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez) at the Mexico-America border. The two criminals connect for an odyssey of lawlessness. The couple kidnaps blonde young couple Duane (Harley Cross) and Estelle (Aimee Graham) off a busy street to be raped and used for sacrifice. Romeo gets a truckload of fetus to be used for cosmetics on their way to Las Vegas. They are pursued by DEA agent Willie 'Woody' Dumas (James Gandolfini).
It's crazy. It's wild. It's also a mess. Bardem and Perez are simply superb as this insane criminal couple especially Bardem. The movie is filled with unforgettable scenes. It has some dark humor and some disturbing parts. Graham and Cross add a nice foil. Their fight is comedic. The chaos and insanity do wear thin after awhile but this is something uniquely memorable. -
cycarax10 November 2004Well done technically, well made, well acted, but an awful, awful, awful story. The scummiest, skankiest, nastiest, cruelest, vilest characters with not a sliver of redeeming likable quality are the heroes of this film. The violence and rape is graphic and I got the impression was being rubbed in the audience's face. These are people you wait for someone like Clint Eastwood, or El Mariachi to come and blow up, but no such person appears here, because these people are supposed to be the heroes - the ones we are supposed to cheer on. I felt more compassion for Hitler than these people. I liked Dr. Hannibal more than these people. Someone must have sat down and tried to think of all the worst characteristics you could create in human beings, with the worst possible circumstances in which they could be expressed. Ewwww.
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jluis198430 June 2006Right after the success of his masterpiece, the dark comedy "El Dia De la Bestia", Spanish director Alex De la Iglesia took a stab at Hollywood with this wild ride of marvelous insanity and bizarre entertainment. Sadly, the resulting movie was severely cut in the U.S. and the U.K. and didn't had the expected results as many labeled as another Tarantino-style film. While at first sight "Perdita Durango" indeed looks like a rip off of the movies by the Tarantino-Rodriguez tandem, this really black comedy is more a witty satire than a serious action flick.
The film is the story of Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez), a young criminal who one night meets Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem), a crazed priest of an extreme form of Santeria who makes a life doing jobs for the mob. They fall in love and Perdita comes along in Romeo's latest job: the traffic of human fetuses for the cosmetic industry. On their trip, they kidnap two American teenagers for Romeo's human sacrifices. However, things go wrong as a DEA agent (James Gandolfini) follows them closely and the kidnapped teens try to escape.
Based on Barry Gifford's novel of the same name, the movie follows the criminal couple's adventure in the style of a road trip movie with the two couples (the criminals and their victims) as main characters. I can't tell how faithful the movie is to the novel, but it is definitely closer to Gifford's previous film adaptation, David Lynch's "Wild at Heart" than to the Tarantino films that are often compared to it. The movie is charged with black humor and disturbing violence, and is a brilliant satire of modern society.
Alex De la Iglesia crafts a film that is at the same time disturbing and funny, and he plays with those two very different emotions with very good results. The pacing of the movie is very good although it is true that at times it feels a bit disjointed. Still, De la Iglesia manages to tell an intelligent and different story than what we are used to. On a side note, the edited A-Pix version is missing what is probably the most important moment of the film due to copyright troubles, so to fully appreciate the film, the 125 version is the way to go.
The acting is good for the most part, with Javier Bardem showing exactly why is he considered the best Spanish actor of his generation; his Romeo Delarosa is one of the best performances of his career. Rosie Perez is effective, but at times it feels as if she weren't up to the challenge, something that hurts the film badly, as she is the main character. Harley Cross and Aimee Graham are very believable as the kidnapped teens and show potential for comedy, but the real joy comes from supporting actors Gandolfini and a surprising Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
Personally, I liked the film a lot and it is a personal favorite, but I must be fair and point out that it is not a perfect film. Alex De la Iglesia's main mistake is to focus too much on Romeo Delarosa's character, almost to the point where Rosie Perez almost becomes a supporting actress. The fact that Bardem's acting is enormously superior doesn't really help Perez' performance. On another point, the movie seems to lose steam at the last point, and while it does recover some of its initial power, the edited versions definitely take out this final improvement.
As written above, this is a personal favorite, and while I wouldn't recommend it to everybody (due to its disturbing images), I would definitely recommend it to fans of black comedies, disturbing thrillers and overall bizarre film-making in general. 8/10 -
lvecrft7 February 2001A criminal couple with psychopathic tendencies meet up in Mexico,
then embark on an illegal embryo stealing operation. On the way,
they kidnap a young couple with the intentions of using them for
human sacrifice.
Here's a film that could've been a real wild ride, but the director
(who's proven he's got talent) decides to slam on the brakes way
before the climax, producing a standard action finale with a little
tragedy thrown in. Still, there's some good action sequences
tossed into an interesting variation of the Bonnie & Clyde theme.
The main problem for me was the lead actor. He never seemed to
have a handle on the character. His criminal outbursts never
melded with the more human side he was attempting to display.
Perhaps a stronger actor would've been able to display a more
nuanced character...or maybe it was just the character itself. But I
lean more towards the actor...
I'm a bit surprised how little screen time Rosie Perez had. I
thought she was the female lead, but very little time was given to
her back story or character arc. I sensed there was more we
weren't privy too...perhaps there was some last minute editing?
Finally, the chemistry between her and the lead was lacking.
Again, a chance to give the story more depth was never realized.
What remains is a quaint dark comedy/crime thriller that's a bit
more than a nice time waster. -
Coventry26 March 2007I own "Perdita Durango" on DVD since more than two years already, but always felt a little reluctant to watch it because, somehow, I feared it wouldn't be as overwhelming as it looks. I'm a big fan of Alex De La Iglesia's bizarrely experimental occult-horror gem "The Day of the Beast", but this is more like an attempt to cash-in on the contemporary popular trend of 'likeable criminals on the run' road movies, inspired by "Wild at Heart" and "Natural Born Killers". And, let's face it, De La Iglesia may be a creative and talented filmmaker, but he definitely isn't on par with big shots like David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. And there you immediately have Perdita Durango's main problem It tries to be exactly like the two aforementioned films and MORE, as our overactive director also wants to implement an extra subplot about the sadistic sacrificing rites of a religious cult led by one of the two main characters. The titular character, adequately played by Rosie Perez, is a tough and foul-mouthed little Mexican thug who hangs around airports on the boarder of Texas. She only gets sucked into the criminal underworld for real when she falls for Romeo Dolorosa. Romeo is the bloodthirsty and trigger-happy leader of the insane Santeria-church as well as an employee of the feared Mexican mob boss Santos. When he's hired to transport a truckload of frigid human fetuses for the cosmetic industry to Las Vegas, Perdita accompanies him and the happy couple even finds the time to kidnap two young teenagers to sexually abuse and humiliate along the way. Perdita Durango isn't really the main character, Romeo is! He's the one who always gets in trouble and has to face mighty enemies like malevolent mob creditors and unstoppable FBI-agents. Perdita's main occupation involves saving Romeo's butt when he once again messes up things! The script is incredibly incoherent and implausible, because it's just too hard to amalgamate plot elements like kidnapping, virgin sacrifice and mafia business deals. How are you supposed to take Romeo serious as a relentless criminal, when he also performs crazy voodoo dances around the fire and prays to Satan? Perdita Durango's reputation of being a cruel and extremely violent thriller is also very exaggerated. The film contains a handful of memorable shootouts and an occasional sadistic killing, but it's overall rather tame and politically correct. I particularly appreciated Alex De La Iglesia's "Day of the Beast" because it spawned an incredibly pleasant sense of black humor and morbid situations. This film hardly features any black humor, unless you consider James Gandolfini's cop-character repeatedly getting hit by cars as humor. His character is supposed to be an obsessive cop, but he's more like a crash-test-dummy. The film also is at least half an hour too long.
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This film is NOT for everyone. It is sexual, and very, very violent. In saying that, I watched this film in disbelief and now I can't stop watching it! It has everything: story, filming cheapness, lots and lots of blatant errors (you can see the filming!!) bt the actors don't care, they're acting and that's what makes this film fun.
I loved everybody in this film, main or supporting character. This was the best work I've seen Rosie Perez in for quite sometime (and let me add, what a juicy roll for ANY actress to have!), this film made me a fan of Javier Bardem's and James Gandolfini ...and Screaming Jay Hawkins just made me crawl under the blankets. This film is wild, its shocking, its violent beyond words, its scary and had me cover my eyes more than once. It's a wild ride and for me, that is what makes it fun! There are things in this film I never thought I'd see or hear about in my lifetime and now that I have-- oh, my!!! (oh, those poor chickens!) But again, I loved this film because of ALL of those elements.
If you rent or see this film on cable and think "Oh, this is one of those Hollywood violent films", boy are you in for a ride if you get to view the unrated, uncut version which to me, is the only way to see it.
And as a personal side note, if anyone wants to see what makes an actor an actor, see Javier Bardem in this film first and immediately see him in "Before Night Falls". Now that's acting and all of Hollywood should take note. -
BandSAboutMovies12 July 2020We talked about Álex de la Iglesia and his film Day of the Beast here before. Now, we have another of us films, based on the 1992 Barry Gifford novel 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango. It also takes inspiration from Magdalena Solís, the so-called "High Priestess of Blood," who was hired by Santos and Cayetano Hernandez to be an Incan princess as part of their cult that was fooling villagers into becoming slaves for them. The power went to her head and she took over, starting a series of drug-fueled blood drinking and murder rituals.
Perdita Durango (Rosie Perez) is trying to scatter the ashes of her sister when she meets Romeo Dolorosa (Javier Bardem), whose police blotter includes crimes like bank robbery, drug dealing and pretending to be a Santeria priest, which mainly involves doing coke and hacking up corpses. Now, he's refrigerating human fetuses and taking them to Vegas for Mr. Santos (Don Stroud, The Amityville Horror).
Perdita decides that they should capture and eat someone, so they kidnap two geeky college kids, assault both of them and then just before the ceremony to sacrifice the girl, another gang attacks. They go on the run, kids in tow, all the way to their destiny in Vegas.
James Gandolfini shows up as agent Woody Dumas, who continually gets hit by cars and survives.
Perdita also appears in another Gifford novel - and the movie it inspired - Wild at Heart, where she was essayed by Isabella Rossellini.
During the Santeria scenes - which are much closer to Santa Muerte - look for Screamin' Jay Hawkins, one of the most important figures in the history of rock 'n roll.
This movie was a dividing line in De La Iglesia's career. Spanish-speaking fans felt that he sold out by having the movie in English and featuring big stars, while American audiences were frightened off by all the sex, drugs and violence.
As for me. I was stunned by how the end of the film transforms into the 1954 Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper film Vera Cruz. -
Captain Ed3 January 2002This movie at least has the edge on "Natural Born Killers" in coherence; otherwise, this is simply a hybrid between Stone's despicable movie and Tarantino's entertaining "From Dusk to Dawn". Rosie Perez is believable in her role, but the actor playing opposite her is really the focus -- which in my opinion is a mistake. The supporting characters are terrible, including James Gandolfini, whom I normally like. The worst are the two kidnap victims, who give simpering a bad name.
Skip it. I had insomnia and STILL couldn't stay awake through this movie. -
ant-7810 November 2004Following the success of El Dia De Bestia and Accion mutante, once again the director pursues the nature of dark obsession. The two main leads are dysfunctional amoral sadists who re in some ways rediscovering a part of them that they miss - love.
It's a story of trying to move on but the main characters are very amoral however there's darker circles than them, which pulls them further down the spiral. In essence this movie is an antithesis of a glamour Mafia movie and I believe represents Mafia dealings in a very dark fashion. In some ways I believe there's a nod to David Lynch with the actor playing the Mafia boss.
The film is not a sick puppy nor is it banal. For those that have followed this director they will read between the lines to discover some salient points of US government intervention out of the states and human traffic - in this case embryos used for beauty products. Like 'clean Madrid' in El Dia de Bestia there were fascist movements in the capital at the time. Iglaisia puts this on the screen as a cultural reminder.
Watching this movie at face value will seem very ultra violent and in some places extremely disturbing. Unlike other cult producers like Tarintino Iglasia uses a loot of cult cultural references to make his films extremely dark and funny (like La Communidad). If you're Latin or Spanish I feel there would be a lot more in this movie for you. Recommended viewing - but not for the faint hearted. -
malkane31622 April 2005Based on Barry Gifford's novel, Perdita Durango follows the exploits of the mysterious, dark, violent and sexual creature of the same name- a woman with a violent and criminal past (who incidentally pops up for a few scenes in Wild At Heart, played by Isabella Rossillini). Full of dislikeable characters, violence, voodoo, and sex, Perdita Durango is an intriguing film which attempts to say something about the state of the modern, stupid white America whose lives are defined by the shows they watch, and the kids who have no real opinions of their own. Unfortunately, we must sympathise with this group as they have been kidnapped by the malevolent Perdita and her lover Romeo so the message is not as strong as it should have been. On the other side though, the kids are very annoying and we cannot feel much sympathy for them, and just when we think we are disgusted by Perdita and Romeo, we find ourselves rooting for them. It is a strange film, messing with our conceptions of good and evil, and by the end we have the feeling that there is no good or evil, only stupid and lucky.
Perdita, played by Rosie Perez meets the mysterious and deadly Romeo, played by Javier Bardem who is planning to hijack a truck load of foetuses and bring them over the boarder from Mexico to N. America. They team up and have a fiery partnership which eventually leads to lots of dark sex and some semblance of love. Before they can do the job though, Romeo needs human victims to sacrifice to his Gods so that they will give him favourable odds. They kidnap two typical naive American teens, Duanne and Estelle, and begin their journey. As they travel, they get to know each other more, but just when you think they will become friendly and the kids might be saved, the two Mexicans soon show their dark sides again. On their tales are some DEA agents, including James Gandolfini, the girl's obsessive but stupid father, and a couple of groups from Romeo's past who want him dead. Things are looking bleak for all concerned, and perhaps not even Romeo's Gods can save him. As all the groups come together, Duanne and Estelle manage to escape for the moment, and Perdita tries to persuade Romeo to forget about the job. He will not give in though.
Banned and cut to shreds in many countries for its violence, nudity and use of other shows and films. It is dark, there is quite a lot of violence and sex and drug-use, but there is a wry sense of humour throughout, and everything is so fantastical and bizarre that it is difficult to take any of it seriously. We do not get a grasp on any of the characters as none are likable, but each have some good points. The performances of Perez and Bardem are both extremely good so we are drawn to them more than any other character, they seem so frantic and their faith is so strong that we cannot help to enjoy a few scenes they have. Gandolfini and Alex Cox are also good in smaller, comic roles, the two kids do everything they can, but are just there to annoy the viewer. There are many bizarre and funny moments, Estelle's father's final scene is one of the best moments. Definitely a film for those willing to see something out of the ordinary, it is rewarding and has some strong performances, good action, dark humour and an insane plot. If only there was a greater emotional content which only appears in the last few minutes.
7 out of 10 -
shawnblackman1 December 2016This movie rocked. I don't know how I missed seeing this one but it was major influenced by Natural Born Killers, True Romance and even smatterings of Pulp Fiction but this one can hold its own.
Javiar Bardem hooks up with Rosie Perez to commit awful crimes together. He is heavy into voodoo rituals and chums with Screamin' Jay Hawkins who plays his voodoo helper. Rosie meets him and the two instantly hit it off. The two of them end up kidnapping a young American couple and bringing them along for a job he's got going involving a truckload of fetuses in jars.
This flick is soaked with seedy characters. The one who steals the show though is James Gandolfini. He plays the detective who's been after Bardem and keeps pursuing him no matter what happens. He gets hit by cars, thrown off of trucks, punched and shot.
Make sure you watch the 2 hour 5 minute version which is the longest as the other prints might be missing the good stuff. Most of the content is disturbing as they each rape the couple they take hostage and randomly kill throughout the film. Mobsters, drug dealers, assassins and scumbags all get in the way of Perdita Durango and her voodoo boyfriend which Bardem plays to a tee. Just an awesome flick. You have to watch this one. -
CharltonBoy16 April 2001Perdita Durango is not the usual type of film i would sit down and watch but my television guide said this film was a horror. You could call this film many things but Horror would not be one of them. To me this film is a Road Movie that without being a great film does keep the viewer interested by the two leading players. Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem star as two crazy Mexicans who have no sense of danger when it comes to most things in their lives. The guy practices devil worship , while she is a lady of the night who craves danger. They both are cast brilliantly because they both have demonic faces and would scare Satan himself. While this film is interesting it lacks any substance from the rest of the cast which does spoil the film a little. Check out the guy with the shades who partners the cop, he has to be the worst actor i have come across in a long time. Over all this film is ok because it is different from anything else but dont cancel any nights out for it. 6 out of 10.
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lsgoose26 January 1999Ugh. A dismal parade of hipness and "shocking" imagery with no real point being made. It has a desperate air to it, and the only shock is that something this miserable was ever exported. There's nothing here that hasn't been done much, much better by other filmmakers, but this film has a smugness and self-congratulatory feel to it that makes it even more appalling!
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(See the update at the end of this review about the uncut version now available in the U.S.)
A-Pix Entertainment has given the U.S. the closest thing available to the complete version of PERDITA DURANGO, but viewers beware, the "Unrated Director's Cut" A-Pix boasts of the film (retitled for video as DANCE WITH THE DEVIL)is still cut!
This version is a variant of the original Spanish edition but in English and Spanish. A-Pix still made 14 cuts for this "unrated" edition, basically removing any glimpses of Rosie Perez' breasts and backside, and removing any clips of TV shows and parts of the film Vera Cruz used within. No word if Ms. Perez didn't want folks to see her nude, but I'm sure A-Pix didn't want to deal with the legal rights for the use of clips from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Urotsukidoji II (from Manga), and clips from Vera Cruz (though some are still seen). One quick edit removes an implied scene of pedophilia. However, the longest cut of 40 seconds is near the end, of Romeo envisioning himself in a scene from Vera Cruz. . Steer clear of the R-rated edition for sure, as it has an additional 10 minutes of sex and violence omitted! For complete details of these cuts, refer to issue #60 of Video Watchdog magazine for an informative article on the video releases of DANCE WITH THE DEVIL.
Despite the unfortunate cuts in the A-Pix "director's" version, PERDITA DURANGO is still a fun, very vicious wild ride! There are many, many uncomfortable scenes that are extremely brutal sexually as well as violently. The frenetic and over the top weirdness never lets up and it's obvious the creators of this gem offer no apologies for offending and messing with your senses. It's no wonder this has gained a cult following.
Perdita is a very dangerous free spirit, and that trouble gets more serious when she meets witch doctor Romeo (Javier Bardem, who DOES get to show his backside several times). Together they kidnap a young couple to use in a sacrificial ceremony. Things definitely go awry, and the kids are taken along for the ride as Romeo is on his way to get a truck full of foetuses for illegal use for cosmetics and deliver them to Las Vegas. All the while a DEA agent played by James Gandolfini is on their trail despite constantly getting physically hurt!
The story becomes quite complex, and in the 121 minutes of this version it never lets up -- there's either violence, sex, and plenty of cursing that all keeps the journey a constant, unpleasant experience, but in a GOOD unpleasant way! Be on the lookout for film director Alex Cox (REPO MAN) as agent Doyle, and Aimee Graham (sis of Heather) as one of the kidnap victims.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays a voodoo man, and Don Stroud is particularly menacing with just a glance of the eyes. Rosie Perez plays it cool, but in a wink can turn psycho, just as Javier Bardem seems to be relishing his role with a lot of energy.
I do recommend hunting down this "unrated director's cut" as at this time is the closest thing to the complete version we'll have here in the U.S. Maybe some day due to the cult reputation of PERDITA DURANGO, we'll get the definitive version with it's original title instead of DANCE WITH THE DEVIL.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2020: The full uncut Perdita Durango is available all-region from Severin Films on Blu-ray, UHD, and DVD. -
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. -
Here we go with another Tarantino style of action film that has no heart and hates all of its characters. Or at least has no respect for any of them. Javier Bardem plays Romeo Dolorosa who is not only a criminal but one that is involved in voodoo and has to sacrifice someone before finishing a score. Rosie Perez is Perdita Durango and she's also a wild criminal sort who gets involved with Romeo. They kidnap two teenagers (Harley Cross and Aimee Graham) for the sacrifice and James Gandolfini is a DEA agent following all of them. After the success of "Pulp Fiction" a lot of independent filmmakers thought it would be easy to make ultra violent stories and call it art. This was a tough film to sit through as we watch one sick episode after another. Don Stroud plays some Mexican mob guy who is also a pedophile. Perez and Bardem both rape the teenagers. Characters are hit by cars and mutilated in fights and as I watched this I had to keep reminding myself that the people who made this offensive dreck try and convince us its all dark humor. I loved "Pulp Fiction" but it spawned so many mutant excuses for films. Really despicable. Another thing I noticed was that for all the ugly images their is one inconsistency that stood out. Perez plays a real wild tramp of a woman. But in her sex scenes she keeps her clothes on. You can't help but notice. On the other hand Aimee Graham is just like her sister Heather and has no problem baring her body. If their is any positive thing I saw it was Perez. She's always been a good actress and it appeared that she could have really shined in this role had the film been written better. The scene at the end of the film where she is crying was just a brief moment to remind us what she could have done with this role. I'm not easily offended and God knows I didn't take this film seriously but where do viewers draw the line? More important, where do filmmakers?
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boyzonee9 November 2001Today European cinema has got quite a few action-oriented directors who can give their American colleagues a run for their money. One of the best is Spain's Alex de la Iglesia who for this effort grabbed a character from David Lynch's and Barry Gifford's "Wild at Heart" and made this outrageous and violent road-movie out of it, starring Rosie Perez in probably her wildest (and best) part ever. Almost every single scene and shot is an eyeopener and furthermore there's a rare opportunity to see late 60'es bad guy Don Stroud again, while James Gandolfini seems to be preparing his sleazeball character of Tony Soprano. "Perdita Durango" is stunningly photographed by Flavio Martínez Labiano and Simon Boswell provided it with a pumping Jerry Goldsmith-esque score. This film was banned in Ireland which should be a recommendation in itself.
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Once you get past the cheesy made for video opening titles of the film you realize that this is a well made, albeit, whacked out of it's mind road film.
Alex De La Iglesia (Who seems hell-bent on becoming the Spanish John Waters) has delivered a truly twisted and inventive cult movie.
Weaving random violence, sex (including a disturbing rape), black humor, nonsensical flashbacks, the Mexican mafia, and great performances, the director delivers a demented and evil-minded tale of true love gone horribly awry.
I realize this may all sound awfully familiar to Natural Born Killers. In a sense it is. The tone of the film actually manages to find that darkly comic core that Natural Born...missed completely in it's convoluted excesses. But what else do you expect from Oliver Stone?
De La Iglesia is smart enough to realize that you don't need useless montages and idiotic laugh tracks to make your point, and the point he's trying to make here, is that there isn't one. Something Stone didn't realize in his film.
For everyone who sits around and complains there's nothing new to rent, check this one out, because no matter what you think of it, it's not the same old schlock. -
guyfromjerzee11 January 2005If you like movies that are filled with senseless violence and (literally) contain nothing else, then this may be your cup of tea. I'm surely no anti-violence advocate, but I don't believe in violence for violence's sake. "Dance with the Devil" is pure exploitation. Even outlaw characters can be at least slightly sympathetic. Not this time around. I found no redeeming qualities in Rosie Perez's and Javier Bardem's characters. It's hard to write a lengthy review about this movie, because there's almost nothing to write about. It's just a big dead zone of a movie. Perez and Bardem are both gifted actors, but they're given nothing to work with. James Gandolfini is the type of actor who can breathe life into any role, and he surely goes to town with his small, thankless part. I'll just close by saying that this is the kind of flick that actors cross off their resumes.