*may* contain a *few* spoilers in order to evaluate film.
Director Felipe Degregori presents a pseudo-documentary of a Lima youth's descent into a life of crime. City of "M" starts out promising with "M" (Santiago Magill) seeking employment and making friends with 15 year old neighbor Karina (Melania Urbina) who shares the same apartment building. But M soon becomes frustrated in his lack of prospects and abandons efforts to seek legitimate employment, instead deciding to deliver cocaine to Miami for a friend. Other members of the cast include M's friends and cohorts in crime, "Coyote", (Jorge Madureno) "Pacho" (Christian Meirer) and girlfriend Sandra (Gianello Negra).
The movie starts out with an engrossing plot, focusing on "M" and his relationships with both Sandra and Karina, but soon looses its continuity and characters and subplots are never fully developed or left hanging. The character of Karina, who helps him find employment, disappointingly disappears once "M" agrees to deliver drugs. "M"'s motivation, or what causes him to drop out of society, is never really explored in any depth. There's no real background or reason given for his descent into crime other than his failure to find employment. Evidently, director Degregori feels that's enough. The grittiness of Lima's shantytowns comes through, and the characters perform in a mindless, unmotivated way: much like hoodlums found in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". "M", however, is somehow different from his cohorts because he has a conscience. He doesn't show the same pathological tendency toward cruelty or petty crime that his friends do. The scene where they are eating the cat was incredibly gross and distastful(and also unbelievable that they would do this--they aren't starving to death, after all). Once "M" has decided to smuggle drugs and the movie shifts focus from him to ironing out the details of drug smuggling, the movie stalls, then picks up speed again just toward the end. But the focus is no longer on "M", only on the group and what they do.
Coyote and Pacho are juvenile delinquents but the film treats them and their actions in a superficial manner. There is only one scene in the whole movie to indicate that "M" has a conscience and is somehow different from his cohorts. If poverty is the driving force behind these criminals, then director Degregori doesn't show it.
The biggest disappointment is the ending which quickly fizzles out after slowly building up tension in the last 30 minutes or so of the movie. There's no resolution to the film at the end, just a disjointed, unsatisfying finish which leaves the viewer up in the air as to its conclusion. In order to tie up loose ends, the director offers post-scripts to each character's fate as the movie ends.
City of "M" does have redeeming value as a portrait of Peruvian youth gone haywire, though there's ultimately little resolution.
Director Felipe Degregori presents a pseudo-documentary of a Lima youth's descent into a life of crime. City of "M" starts out promising with "M" (Santiago Magill) seeking employment and making friends with 15 year old neighbor Karina (Melania Urbina) who shares the same apartment building. But M soon becomes frustrated in his lack of prospects and abandons efforts to seek legitimate employment, instead deciding to deliver cocaine to Miami for a friend. Other members of the cast include M's friends and cohorts in crime, "Coyote", (Jorge Madureno) "Pacho" (Christian Meirer) and girlfriend Sandra (Gianello Negra).
The movie starts out with an engrossing plot, focusing on "M" and his relationships with both Sandra and Karina, but soon looses its continuity and characters and subplots are never fully developed or left hanging. The character of Karina, who helps him find employment, disappointingly disappears once "M" agrees to deliver drugs. "M"'s motivation, or what causes him to drop out of society, is never really explored in any depth. There's no real background or reason given for his descent into crime other than his failure to find employment. Evidently, director Degregori feels that's enough. The grittiness of Lima's shantytowns comes through, and the characters perform in a mindless, unmotivated way: much like hoodlums found in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". "M", however, is somehow different from his cohorts because he has a conscience. He doesn't show the same pathological tendency toward cruelty or petty crime that his friends do. The scene where they are eating the cat was incredibly gross and distastful(and also unbelievable that they would do this--they aren't starving to death, after all). Once "M" has decided to smuggle drugs and the movie shifts focus from him to ironing out the details of drug smuggling, the movie stalls, then picks up speed again just toward the end. But the focus is no longer on "M", only on the group and what they do.
Coyote and Pacho are juvenile delinquents but the film treats them and their actions in a superficial manner. There is only one scene in the whole movie to indicate that "M" has a conscience and is somehow different from his cohorts. If poverty is the driving force behind these criminals, then director Degregori doesn't show it.
The biggest disappointment is the ending which quickly fizzles out after slowly building up tension in the last 30 minutes or so of the movie. There's no resolution to the film at the end, just a disjointed, unsatisfying finish which leaves the viewer up in the air as to its conclusion. In order to tie up loose ends, the director offers post-scripts to each character's fate as the movie ends.
City of "M" does have redeeming value as a portrait of Peruvian youth gone haywire, though there's ultimately little resolution.