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In Nicotina Mexico City plays the role of urban metropolis where everything is possible. The computer age has taken over, danger lurks around every corner, and the Russian Mafia has a seat in this theater of the absurd. Diego Luna plays the ultimate computer geek, capable of breaking into Swiss bank accounts and planting cameras in his hot neighbor's apartment to spy on her. Awkward and lacking in social graces, even when he runs like a nerd down the streets of Mexico City, he's even more hilarious given his heartthrob status (along with Gael Garcia Bernal, his companion from Amores Perros). Luna is charged with copying bank account files for a Russian Mafioso whose intermediary is a Mexican middleman and his Argentine counterpart (could this be Rodriguez slyly winking at himself, as he is also a Buenos Aires transplant?) in exchange for diamonds. But when his sexy neighbor figures out that he's been spying on her, all hell breaks loose. Others get involved, like the pain n the ass pharmacist (who's trying to quit smoking) and his wife (who smokes and wants out of the relationship) as well as a scheming hairdresser and her sociable husband. And even more get shot and killed, until the survivor (but not necessarily the winner) takes all. As for the title Nicotina, almost everyone smokes, except for the ones who are trying to quit or the ones who bemoan secondhand smoke. The characters, like the title, are all on edge. Smoking becomes a catalyst for a philosophical conversation about all the different ways there are to die. Sure there's cancer, but most will die a lot more quickly—especially in this film. And whether dying from an addiction to cigarettes or the desire to get rich quickly, the end result is the same, isn't it? Violence is highly stylized and some grotesquely humorous sequences take place. A la Tarantino, people are suddenly blown to smithereens, ceasing to exist in the middle of the pulsating action. When the hairdresser gets hold of the Russian, believing he has hidden the diamonds in his stomach, all of the bile humans are composed of comes out, revealing an ugly character that will jump on any opportunity available, at whatever cost to decency and dignity. But it's also funny and that's where the charm of the film lies. The soundtrack, part sixties lounge songs, part throbbing techno by Terrestre of Nortec Collective, is excellent, giving the film a kinetic energy that fuels the story perfectly. The end track by Aterciopelados pulls it all together. Those who have become addicts of Mexican film in the last few years, from Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien to El Crimen del Padre Amaro, Perfume de Violetas and Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas, will enjoy this latest export that is yet another burst of creativity and energy. A la mexicana.
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