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 Entertainment | January 2007 
Breathtaking Bandidas
 Bruce Kirkland - Sun Media
| | Tight jeans, bursting bodices of two of the sexiest women in Hollywood - what more could you ask for in a camp flick? |
Considering all the crap that Hollywood spews, it is surprising that the romp Bandidas never got full distribution and had to wait for this week's straight-to-DVD release.
After all, even as nonsense, which this certainly is, Bandidas is more fun than most silly movies that do show in theatres. Plus it stars two of the sexiest women in world cinema: Real-life best buddies Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz.
They dress up in leathers, jeans, gowns, bursting bodices, clown-whore costumes and all sorts of other alluring wardrobes. Then they fire off guns, knives and quips.
That combo alone makes this camp flick more entertaining than something similar, like the overwrought Wild Wild West, a disaster superstar Will Smith apologizes for making. No apologies are needed for the made-in-Mexico, English-language Bandidas. Just don't take it seriously.
Co-written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and co-directed by Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, Bandidas is set in 19th-century Mexico. In this era, American robber barons and their murderous henchmen exploit Mexican entrepreneurs and crush peasants.
Hayek, as a society gal, and Cruz, as a fiery peasant, reluctantly team up to fight back. More archetypes are played by Dwight Yoakam, as the oily mustachioed villain; Steve Zahn, as the comic stooge; and Sam Shepard, as the rugged cowboy who schools our heroines on robbing banks.
The DVD offers the movie in full or widescreen on the same disc, thus limiting extras. There is a charming commentary that teams Hayek and Cruz and a making-of featurette that shows them in action on set.
THE REAL DEAL: If Bandidas is comic fantasy, Quinceanera, from co-directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmore-land, is reality.
Set in the Mexican-Latino community of Echo Park in Los Angeles, it plays in English and Spanish and was inspired by experiences of the filmmakers. The beautifully wrought drama is a slice-of-life insight into people you can believe in. The title is explained quickly in the opening scenes: It is a girl's coming-of-age party at 15.
The low-key story in the movie follows the awkward preparations for the quinceanera of a stubborn and now pregnant girl named Magdalena (Emily Rios) and shows how she interacts in particular with her saintly uncle (Chalo Gonzalez) and her punk-ass gay cousin (Jesse Garcia). The filmmakers handle their characters with delicacy and intelligence, never becoming judgmental.
The DVD is reasonably well appointed, with a group cast and crew commentary, a folksy, 21-minute, making-of featurette, a three-minute mock film showing a quinceanera and a two-minute visit to the L.A. premiere. |
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