Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
NateWatchesCoolMovies La Cucaracha means cockroach in Spanish (duh), which is somewhat of an ironic and sad reference to the main character of this exquisite little indie character study, a damaged man named Walter Pool (Eric Roberts). Walter is a writer drowning in alcoholism as he spend his days hiding out in a Mexican shanty town. Wallowing in self despair, he's the perfect protagonist just waiting for an inciting incident, and as we all know, rural Mexico is a breeding ground for trouble of all sorts to spur on a good campfire tale. While on a bender in town, Walter is approached by a shady American lawyer (James McManus) and offered a job with malicious implications involving the son of local Mexican mobster Jose Guerra (Joaquim De Almeida). He takes the task, but nothing is what it seems and he realizes he's been set up, lied to and left for dead. Used to being a write off, something snaps in him and he fires up with a need to know the truth about Guerra and his family. He'll wish he never bothered, because the truth is disturbing and not at all what you'd expect from this kind of tequila soaked, south of the border intrigue. There's very little action, gunplay or usual thriller tropes, and pretty much all the narrative is left to the actors and the writing, making it very unique amongst this type of fare. This is essential for any Roberts fan, he's not doing one of his extended cameos or winking supporting jaunts here. He's front and center the entire time and owns it with vulnerability and resilience, especially in a curiously sad monologue that goes into his past and let's us see some of what has led him to his unique, end of the road situation. Almeida once again plays a Latin criminal, but unlike most of the other times, he's given something to do here besides wave a gun around and be the villain. He's treated intimately by the script, giving Guerra a personality, secrets and a haunted soul of his own. The scenes later in the third act between him and Roberts crackle with charisma and potency. The cover of the DVD for this shows a gunslinger type guy brandishing two pistols. Ignore that fully. Nowhere in this film is there anything that can be branded as an action flick. It's all about character, good and bad deeds, redemption, evil and choices we make. An astonishing little story that's been seen by almost no one up til now, deserving of far more accolades.
fanaticita Having only seen Eric Roberts in two films: Pope of Greenwich Village, and King of the Gypsies, I have to say I'm hooked!!! Why Robert isn't a star in the full sense of the word, I'll never know. La Cucaracha was brilliant, taking "Warren" through a journey of self-discovery with a little help along the way. The use of "magical realism" made some moments in the film puzzling to Norteamericano audiences, I'm sure -like how he survived the shooting or the drowning. Suspend belief, folks! I loved the various genres: film noir, dark comedy, etc. And this was clearly Eric Robert's film. He was entirely believable from the opening scenes throughout to the end. Robert has one of those faces that conveys everything. If it's true that the eyes are the mirror of the soul then his performance confirms that belief.The most comical lines are juxtaposed with tragic events: "Why is everybody so nuts???!" One of my favorite lines in the film.For all Eric Robert's fans. . .this is a must!! See it!
w0aq This is an interesting movie. Not the normal type of role for Eric Roberts but as usual, he does a perfect job.Things start off interestingly with Walter running for the local cantina for some beer and it gets even more interesting from there.Robert's character Pool seems a bit shallow at times and leaves me wondering about his wanting to be a writer. I wonder what he would have written?Good movie - don't miss it.
bainst LA CUCARACHA (1998) is an original, intelligent dark-comedy that sneaks up on you and gets under your skin. It was the winner in many of the film festivals of 1998. Eric Roberts gives the performance of his life as a snivelling, weak, drunken coward that finds redemption; a part that should have broken him out of his B-movie status, if not for the industry fumbling in the movie's distribution.It is a moral play, delineating the human ability to rise above our animal instincts. It begins, as most Great Films do, with a tone and pace that could take the story in any direction, and once its tone of "dark comedy" is set, it remains consistent throughout. Instead of leaping into an easily recognizable formula, it takes its time to set up the character of our protagonist (all of the characters in this film are written, portrayed and presented so well, one wonders if it weren't written fifty years ago, when dialogue in a film actually mattered).There is horror and tragedy within the story, but it is never gratuitous nor glorified.If you love great dialogue; if you love great character development and motivation; if you love great direction and timing; if you long for the days when there were actually good, solid, meaningful stories; do yourself a favor and FIND THIS MOVIE.
