Colombian writer/director Gustavo Bolívar remade his earlier TV series “Sin Tetas no Hay Paraìso” [Eng. Trans: No Paradise Without Tits] for the big screen in 2010, and apparently it was still a huge success.
It chronicles the completely misguided life of a low-in-self-esteem fourteen year old girl, and the extraordinary lengths she goes to, to get what she thinks is necessary – in her case, bigger breasts equates to greater success. In the DVD extras, Gustavo Bolívar also explains the reason behind his making of the film that had already had a successful run on TV earlier – so that he could follow the original novel more faithfully, where an adolescent Catalina enthusiastically turns to prostitution in order to earn the money required for her breast implant – in the TV series, the story was adapted to portray an older woman.
About the Making of the Film:
The film does have a rather interesting background. Bolívar wanted to find a young lady really wanting to undergo surgery for his film, so that the actual procedure could also be filmed. Twenty one year old Isabel Cristina Cadavidad was consulting with renowned plastic surgeon Alan Gonzalez (who acts as himself in the film too) when she was informed of the opportunity to star in a film. Even though she was 21, she looked 15-16, which was more or less the character’s age, and she agreed to play Catalina.
About the film:
Any story dealing with under-age prostitution is shocking to say the least, but the director forces us to look beyond what Catalina ends up doing, in order to explore the motivating and mitigating factors that leads her down the path. The film is therefore very earthy, in a naturally Latin American way, and well made with some interesting screenplay, which switches from melodramatic soap-opera to gritty drama of gang-culture, from teenage romance to erotic drama. The acting is also pretty good, especially from Isabel Cristina Cadavidad, who has never acted before. The direction and editing are professional, and the sound track is excellent, sampling Cumbia, Pop Latino, Hip Hop and Reggaeton beats – it’s as if the entire musical talent from Cali and Bogota have been called upon for this film. It’s all good fun, never boring, why would it when the screen’s filled with sexy girls from start to finish! Needless to say, Recommeded Viewing.
.
.
