It’s a sure thing that when watching an Alex de la Iglesia (“Perdita Durango”, “800 Bullets”) movie, you’re in for something different, something clever and fresh. Such is the case once again with his latest, “El Crimen Perfecto.”
Rafael, a sales rep for a major department store strives for the perfect, elegant life. He doesn’t have it quite yet, but he’s working on it. Till then, he refuses to tie himself down with a mediocre life, living in some shitty apartment, surrounded by worthless crap. Instead, he hops from bed to bed nightly. Rafael is a womanizer like no other and he has the charm and confidence to turn heads wherever he goes and that comes in plenty handy at the department store as he works the women’s fashions department. All of his female co-workers worship him as a sexual god, so he has no problems finding a place to shack up every night. Some nights he’ll even stay at the department store, with a lucky lady of his choosing of course, and it’s at the department store that he’s comfortable. You see, his mother gave birth to him in this very store and he vows that this is the place that he will die. Until then, he’s moving his way up the chain to floor manager. It’s a position he wants so bad he can taste it, and he almost lands the gig until a rival employee, Antonio, snakes it out from under him. Now with managerial power, Antonio makes Rafael’s life a living hell, until he jumps on the opportunity to fire him. This firing sparks an argument, which ignites into a full blown put up yer dukes slug-out that ultimately ends in Rafael accidentally killing Antonio. Not confident that people will actually believe this was an accident, Rafael makes a plan to get rid of the body, but there’s another problem – someone saw this whole thing happen. That someone is Lourdes, a not-so-attractive female co-worker of Rafael’s who he never paid any attention to due to her good looks impairment. But now, he has to pay attention to her. First she insists on helping him dispose of the body. Then, she demands sex, and lots of it. Then it’s time to meet her parents and before long, they’re in a mediocre, loveless relationship, the very thing that Rafael despised in other people, vowing that it would never happen to him, but now it has and it’s all to keep Lourdes’ mouth shut about his killing Antonio. Rafael decides that he has to get rid of Lourdes and to do that, he needs to concoct the perfect crime and who’s going to help him? The ghoulishly green ghost of Antonio, of course. Keeeeraazy!
Somewhat similar to “La Comunidad,” “El Crimen Perfecto” is a Hitchcockian type thriller, seasoned with Iglesia’s dark, inventive humor and charmingly devilish characters. You love movies? You love being entertained? Iglesia is always a deadlock. You can’t go wrong with “El Crimen Perfecto,” it’s a wicked good time.
