"Sin Noticias de Dios" - "Don't Tempt Me"

Released: 2001
Director: Agustin Diaz Yanes
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Victoria Abril, Gael García Bernal, Fanny Ardant, Demián Bichir

Sin Noticias de Dios is a slightly odd film. And the more you think back on it, the odder it seems. It is also a quirky comedy with a smart script that draws on numerous genres.

The opening sequence reminded me of Tarantino, esp. Pulp Fiction, but instead of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, we get Penélope Cruz and Victoria Abril swapping sharp, gangsterish dialogue about history and the bible before donning Queen Elizabeth II masks and pulling out the artillery to rob a supermarket.

Flashing back from this initial scene, we enter the main premise of the film. Namely that Heaven (which is black'n'white and French) is losing the eternal battle with Hell (in full colour and currently presided over by the Mexican Bernal who is, however, in danger of being superseded by rather bland English bureaucrats.) Of deciding importance to the struggle is a particular(ly obnoxious) failed Spanish boxer, Manny. Both sides send their best agents to secure Manny's immortal soul. Heaven sends Abril, Hell sends Cruz and their competition is complicated by some Earthly gangsters to whom Manny owes money.

The casting is inspired. Cruz seems to relish playing a mannish role; her character is male but imprisoned in a woman's body as his Hellish punishment (as a nice touch at the very end, we find out what she really looks like; Hollywood gossip merchants will spot the irony.) Abril is altogether more elegant as the 1940s cabaret singer in a Parisian nightclub afterlife whose audience has dwindled as Hell gained the upper hand. Fanny Ardant is suitably chic and sophisticated as Heaven's Head of Operations. We never quite fathom her past relationship with her opposite number in Hell, Gael García Bernal, who steals every scene in which he appears. He's nervous, twitchy, gains our sympathy and he's prepared to deal with the other side in order to keep his underlings at bay.

So, a supernatural/biblical comedy with nods to Cold War spy story, corporate satire, gangster movie and just a sprinkling of courtroom drama. If you like quirky plotting, amusing dialogue and interesting ideas and visuals (and your player can take Region 1 DVDs) then it's worth a watch.