Winston T. Boogie
Senior HTF Member
Recently, watched the new Blu-ray (also available in 4K UHD) of Perdita Durango.
What is it about?
This is a sort of prequel to Wild at Heart in that the same guy wrote the book, Barry Gifford, and it features the backstory of one of the characters from Wild at Heart, Perdita Durango. Played in the Lynch film by Isabella Rossellini and here by Rosie Perez in a rip roaring performance. Here we get to see Perdita's violent and blood soaked backstory. This includes the death of her sister and the fateful meeting with the apparent love of her life and totally insane Santeria practicing boyfriend played by he of the many bad haircuts, Javier Bardem. It may be a rule in roles that Bardem plays that the worse his haircut is the more insane his character is. He sports a doozy of a bad trim in this one so he is flat out mad as a hatter. Bardem plays Romeo, a cult leader and sometime cartel enforcer and errand boy that generally takes on nasty jobs they want done when he is not double crossing pals he robs banks with and performing crazy rituals he believes give him special powers. He spots Perdita by chance as she is disposing of her sisters ashes and decides, she is perfect to be his...um...better half. As a sick twist on the cartel thing, Romeo is not running drugs for them but instead something with even more value, human fetuses which are being used to make the wealthy look young and beautiful. Don Stroud plays the sleazy Mexican cartel honcho and does quite a good job in the role. As Romeo and Perdita form a bond that includes human sacrifice, they take off attempting to get the cargo to Las Vegas. All while being pursued by James Gandolfini's greasy DEA man. Madness and mayhem ensues and the cast is up to the challenge.
Who will enjoy this?
If you like the work of Brian De Palma, Quentin Tarantino, or Oliver Stone (when his pictures had that whole fever dream feel, think U Turn or Natural Born Killers) then this is for you. Gonzo characters in lunatic situations, with a lot of nudity and sex thrown in. Apparently this picture was cut down and renamed due to the excessive sex and nudity but here Severin give us the whole enchilada, if you will, and restore the picture to it's nudity and sex filled glory. Honestly, I've never seen the cut version (titled Dance with the Devil) so I can't say how much or what is restored. I can say there are several sex scenes and ample nudity in this version. This is not as weird and whacked out as Lynch's Wild at Heart and is more a cross between De Palma and Stone. It's wonderfully photographed and quite colorful and if you are a fan of any of the central players they give you your money's worth and then some.
The Blu-ray
The presentation is outstanding and of course Severin give us a bunch of extras. So great package for a film that is not very well known.
Bottom Line
I highly recommend this to folks that like violent, over the top, crime cinema and really feel this picture should be on a lot of people's to watch lists.
