Gustavo Cova’s crime thriller “Rouge amargo” [Eng. Title: Bitter Red Lips] treads a path well-worn by others trying to emulate Hollywood, but falls way short of being spoken in the same length as ‘Jason Bourne’.
A candidate running for Congress is murdered in a hotel room when he’s with favourite prostitute Cyntia (Mariela Vitale, credited as ‘Emme’). The hit-man tries to get rid of Cyntia too but is prevented by Julián (Luciano Cáceres) after she escapes from the room in the nude and asks for his help. An alleged ex-convict, Julián, along with Cyntia will become ‘natural’ suspects for the police after the hit-man escapes from the scene. Could the candidate be killed for political reasons? Thrown into their midst is an investigative journalist and the officer trying to apprehend the suspects to solve his case…
There are several problems with this film, right from the screenplay to the numerous holes in the plot, not to mention totally irrational decisions that some of the characters make, that stretches credibility. The performances are passable but the direction falters at crucial junctures in the film. The unnecessarily shaky camera work and ridiculous editing put me off right from the start, and unnoticed half decent performances go wasted in the process. It’s a shame that Emme (Mariela Vitale) – a talented actress from films such as Eva y Lola and El niño pez finds herself associated with this rather mediocre production. Short-sighted ‘genre’ films such as these tend to be forgotten very quickly, and raise the question whether they really need to be made in the first place.
The Nudity: Emme (Mariela Vitale)
The actress briefly appears nude in a few scenes – first in a hotel corridor in the midst of a full-blown battle between Julián and the hit-man. Later, Julán and her character have sex in a scene as poorly executed as the rest of the film. Finally, we’re shown a few frames of topless nudity from Emme in a shower scene, inter-cut with flashbacks.
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Compilation: Emme (Mariela Vitale)
The first nude scene includes some fisticuffs between the hero and his nemesis – I couldn’t edit them out without making the scene look silly. I’d however vigorously edited out irrelevant bits from the final scene when Cyntia hits the shower.
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