N.Y. Latino

Sultans of the South

Sultanes del sur

By RONNIE SCHEIB

A Maya Entertainment release of a Warner Bros. presentation, in association with Filmax Intl., of a Lemon Films production, in co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures Mexico/Castelao Production, in co-production with Salamandra Films/Via Delphi. Produced by Marco Polo Constandse, Julio Fernandez, Bill Rovzar, Fernando Rovzar. Executive producers, Alex Garcia, Jose Ramon Elizondo, Carlos Fernandez, Julio Fernandez. Co-executive producer, Antonia Nava. Directed by Alejandro Lozano. Screenplay, Tony Dalton.
 
With: Tony Dalton, Ana de la Reguera, Silverio Palacios, Jordi Molla, Celso Bugallo, Oscar Alegre.
(Spanish dialogue)
 

Mexican helmer Alejandro Lozano follows his darkly comic debut, the kidnapping-gone-wrong thriller "Matando Cabos," with the somewhat more sober bank-heist-gone-wrong actioner "Sultans of the South." But there's irony aplenty in the plot's many twists and turns as the pic startlingly shifts axes and changes its focus. Less off-the-wall than his compatriot Robert Rodriguez, Lozano nevertheless displays an inventive touch with genre setpieces, be they meticulous robberies or spontaneous car chases, any less explosive interaction kept lively by a diverse cast. Released as part of the Maya Entertainment package, this Spanish-language caper film could score on cable.

The opening heist, choreographed by mastermind Leo (Jordi Molla), unfolds like clockwork. While Leo and cohort Sanchez (Tony Dalton, reprising his dual function as Lozano's star and scripter) calmly shepherd bank officials to the soon-to-be-emptied vault, Monica (the always impressive Ana de la Reguera) holds a bankful of hostages quiet with one machine gun and lots of imperious attitude.

Escaping through a tunnel that's been dug by the fourth team member, the diminutive, garrulous Dominguez (Silverio Palacios), the gang boards a plane for Argentina. Leo, superbly in command, negotiates via cell phone with the clueless police, who still believe they have the robbers trapped in the bank.

Once in Argentina, where the team plans to launder the money, events rapidly spin out of control. A currency exchange, rife with mutual paranoia, is suddenly interrupted by a bullet-spraying band of masked desperados; theensuing high-speed chase is shot with dizzying handheld immediacy from multiple angles.

The Mexican robbers, their number dwindled by hostage-taking and summary execution, now find themselves at the mercy of Buenos Aires' two rival criminal factions. The thieves' survival depends on whether they can rip off one side to recompense the other without getting killed.

"Sultans," constructed as a series of surprises, keeps viewers scrambling to catch up to the action -- whether it evolves according to the characters' plans, erupts chaotically or occurs obliquely in offscreen bastions of power.

Lozano neatly sustains this high level of dramatic unexpectedness, though the pic's final rug-pulling reversal registers as anticlimactic in its overexplanation.

Tech credits are excellent, lenser Juan Jose Saravia imaginatively treating Buenos Aires as an alien landscape.

Camera (color, widescreen), Juan Jose Saravia; editor, Luis de la Madrid Soria; music, Xavier Capellas; music supervisor, Lynn Fainchten; art director, Stella Iglesias; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Pedra Marra; sound designers, Enrique Greiner, Eric Dounce; re-recording mixer, Jaime Baksht. Reviewed at New York Latino Film Festival, Aug. 1, 2009. Running time: 95 MIN.