Lucia Lucia [DVD] [2003] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Director Antonio Serrano obviously holds his contemporary Pedro Almodovar in high esteem: he has found the same sharp edge between reality and fiction, uses some of the same actors, and most important, satisfies his audience with a first rate product.

LUCIA, LUCIA is a tour de force for the brilliant actress Cecilia Roth. Cast as the wife of a man she barely knows after many year of marriage, a man who mysteriously disappears on the eve of their Latin American holiday vacation, Roth moves from dowdy plain-Jane to sensuous beauty in the course of the story. Roth (Lucia) is a writer of children's books - silly stories about chickens and ducks illustrated by a young artist (Adrian) who is not only intelligent but also very handsome and passionate (Kuno Becker, in a career-making role - he simply has it all.) From the outset of the film Lucia talks with us, her audience, admitting that she has just related fantasies rather than truths, versions of her life that are far more intriguing than her boring existence. When she discovers that her husband has been 'kidnapped' she gathers the forces of Adrian and of Felix, an elderly gentleman who lives in her apartment (the always fine Carlos Alvarez-Novoa). This unlikely trio starts on a caper that is at once funny and tender because it is through the absurdities they encounter that each finds himself and acknowledges their mutual love. Lucia manages to show us various scenes of the same incident, each colored by her imagination and her desire to be more than she is: she has a passionate affair with Adrian who is young enough to be her son, she manages to compensate Felix for this intelligence and guidance and his obvious love for her though he is old enough to be her father! In the end (and the end comes only after a well calculated intrigue that involves government corruption, hostage settings, etc) Lucia has found herself - 'discovering new places is viewing the world with new eyes' - and lives happily alone, writing serious novels.

The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles, is beautifully photographed and well directed and edited. But it is the powerful presence of Cecilia Roth that makes this movie sing. Add to that the magnetic gifts of the handsome and talented Kuno Becker and the grace and experience of Carlos Alvarez-Novoa and the result is a very gratifying - strangely bizarre - movie.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie. It was overall very suspensful, with lots of twists and turns. I haven't seen anything like this movie. Nothing too typical or predictable. A few scenes do not connect well together, and the movie can drag on a bit. I don't know if i could sit through it again, but it was suspensful and captivating 2 hrs of entertainment from some talented actors (and a cute Adrian)

Most films claim certain amount of credibility to tell its story. `Lucia Lucia' doesn't. The film rather goes in for the unreality, or constant twisting of the conventions of all the film genre (except that of comedy, which I think is the right description of `the film). Consequently what Lucia does first with the voiceover is to apologize to us for having said a lie. And that's only the beginning of the film.

But the film is all about Lucia, and that part is true. On December 27th, at the airport, husband of Lucia (Cecilia Ross) goes to the bathroom, and never comes back. Then someone calls her, and his disappearance turns out a kidnapping case. But as I said, Lucia immediately corrects the date (it was in fact 30th), and the detective is awfully sloppy. But again, we are not supposed to believe in everything, or to take it too seriously.

While waiting for a chance to do something on her own, she enlists help from the two people living in the same building: Félix, old political refugee from Cuba, and Adrián, young handsome guy. As they delve into the mystery of Lucia's husband's disappearance, Lucia starts to be attracted to Félix romantically.

[ALL ABOUT LUCIA] As you can expect from the new wave Mexican films, the narratives are unique, cinematography is crisp, and acting (of the three principals) is superb. What divides the opinions among the viewers would be the first one, though: narrative, or storytelling. Not that it is hard to follow. It is only that the film mixes several genres - thriller, road movie, romance, etc. - and it refuses to be pigeonholed into one. The only proper way I can think of to describe the characteristics of `Lucia Lucia' is - `All About Lucia.'

Now let's talk about Lucia, or Cecilia Ross. Without the great acting from Ross, who knows how to make the entire film moderately comical but not too jokey, `Lucia Lucia' would have been an unendurable mess. Ross heightens the pleasant and fantastic feeling of experiencing something extraordinary, without losing the reality of the character.

But again, I have to talk about its narrative. I am afraid that the film is trying to push the limit too much. You know, in films, you often wish that certain part of it would turn out the way you want, and `Lucia Lucia' has one such thing. In the lengthy coda, where everything should have been in the right place, `Lucia Lucia' still attempts to give us a twist. No thank you. I would rather not to have any more twist.

Probably `Lucia Lucia' is best appreciated as light-hearted romance about a middle-aged woman who suddenly learns how to see things differently. And we are also invited to see the film (or any film) with entirely new eyes. If not everything succeeds here, that is not because we don't want that changing, but that we don't want constant, non-stopping changing. But the talent of Cecilia Ross and the joy of watching her character are real, and to them go the four stars.