Despite the title, "Loco Fever," the latest movie from Chilean filmmaker AndrÇs Woods, does have a love story going. No, really.
I know what you're thinking. Latino movie, Spanish with subtitles, "loco" and "fever" in the title -- it'll be a sexual romp that makes "Y Tu Mama TambiÇn" look like an ABC Afternoon Special.
Well, sorry. You are wrong and should be ashamed of yourself.
"Loco Fever" -- or "La Fiebre del Loco" -- is a story of love, but it also has a little intrigue and a lot of greed. We're talking Gordon Gecko level "greed is good" greed. And the "loco" is not any of the title characters, it is a shellfish that is not only an endangered species, but also has aphrodisiacal powers.
The film starts when shady Canuto, played by Emilio Bardi, enlists the help of an old diving friend Jorge, played by Luis Dub¢, for a sketchy "legit" business deal. The deal involves selling the Locos to a Japanese businessman who promises to pay twice the going price for the fish.
The duo returns to their small hometown, the isolated Patagonian town of Puerto Gala, to present the deal to the town elders. Among the wildness that engulfs the town, Canuto and Jorge both find female companionship to further complicate their scheme.
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Canuto hones in on an old flame, Sonia, played by Loreto Moya, who runs the local saloon. Jorge begins flirting with the young waitress Nelly, played by Tamara Acosta.
Surrounding this is a weeklong cavalcade of craziness. There are the locals, who jealously guard the Locos. There's the travelling band of prostitutes that sets up shop on a bus that's floated into port on a barge. And there's Padre Luis, played by Luis Margani, the village priest and lone voice of moral order who paradoxically produces a nightly soap opera, "Endless Love."
Much of the comedy of the movie arises from the parallel love stories that develop between Canuto and Sofia and Jorge and Nelly, as well as their interplay with the social commentary provided by Padre Luis' "Endless Love" episodes.
The intrigue comes from the scheme between Canuto and his Japanese counterpart Fujimori. The duo are conning the townspeople with counterfeit pesos, but no one seems to notice. No one notices except Sonia, whose judgment is clouded by her feelings for Canuto -- feelings that more often than not end with her slapping him during an argument.
Eventually Canuto has a crisis of consciousness. Can he go through with the con?
And all the while, the "loco fever" grips the town as grueling days of diving are followed by nights filled with drinking and promiscuity. The audience is aware that the townspeople are spending its false fortune faster than a pensioner with a gambling habit. And that sets up the final tension.
What will become of the townspeople after their excesses are played out?
Woods does a good job of getting across that greed will undo even the best of us. But he does this while getting in a few laughs, most of which are cynical.
"Loco Fever" is a great example of finding the commonalties between romance, deceit and the comedy that comes from both of those conditions.
