Lucia Lucia

Although originally released under the title La Hija del Canibal (The Cannibal's Daughter) and based on the novel by Rosa Montero, be not afraid. This Mexican dramedy is decidedly un-Silence of the Lambs. Told from the point of view of the imaginative Lucia (Cecilia Roth), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Kathleen Turner, Lucia Lucia is an eccentric, puckish film. When Lucia's husband fails to return from the washroom after the final boarding call for their flight is announced, a panicked Lucia returns home to call 911. Finding her impotency unbearable, she begins to rifle through her husband's belongings for any trace of what may have happened. She suspects infidelity, treachery, or even kidnapping. Amid suspicions, police intervention and millions of pesos, Lucia is befriended by two neighbours, one half her age (Kuno Becker), one twice her age (Carlos Alvarez-Novoa) and both in love with her. The unlikely triangle becomes a close family as they embark on a mission to unearth clues about her husband's dual life. A fiction by definition signals artifice and Lucia Lucia has fun with that definition, with the narrator all the time admitting her propensity for pathological lying. Among the dodgy facts are her apartment's decor, several plot points, her relationship with her young admirer and the exact colour of her hair. Cecilia Roth is a really affable Lucia, with just the right amount of over-the-topness (her screechy wail could have been toned down some). Becker and Alvarez-Novoa are solid backups and backups alone in a film that is really more concerned with what it can do than what it's about. This DVD has relatively paltry extras. Outside of a commentary by director Antonio Serrano (Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas), the "making of" is worth watching for Alvarez-Novoa's insights on the film's nonlinear, theatrical approach alone. (Fox Searchlight)