Apocalípsur

D: Javier Mejía Osorio; with Camilo Díaz, Andrés Echavarría, Marisela Gómez, Ramón Marulanda, Pedro Pablo Ochoa

When they bring out the mirror birthday cake with cocaine frosting, or at least after Weasel compares his diarrhea to a “hose spraying rotten beans with flecks of pepper” you know you’re watching Colombia’s answer to Dazed and Confused. But in Nineties Colombia, existential teens aren’t worrying so much about initiation paddlings. The drug wars have filled the streets with corrupt policemen and wannabe Tony Montanas. But despite the differences, there’s much here aimed at English speakers: The opening snags a brick from Pink Floyd’s Wall, and the denouement comes straight from As I Lay Dying; there’s an en-ingles dialogue sequence composed mainly of classic-rock album titles, and a lizard named Marijuana. Colombian teens are portrayed here as an inspiring international archetype: They run the daily risk of being beaten by police, kidnapped by dealers, killed in the crossfire between the two, et al., but they still find the time to smoke a lot of drugs, make a good 15-minutes of fart jokes, and pick up a transvestite hooker. This movie has got to be a contender for any potential Best Foreign Language Stoner Tragicomedy awards you’ve got lying around. – Jeremy Martin

This article appears in April 20 • 2007.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.

The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.