The Perfect Crime -El Crimen Perfecto-

Product Description Spanish iconoclast Alex de Iglesia continues to toy with genre conventions in this black comedy, offering up his characteristic social commentary in a skewering of consumerist culture and the superficial values it perpetuates. Amazon.com Rafael Gonzales (Guillermo Toledo) plays the consummate department store clerk in The Perfect Crime, a Spanish comedy about the cutthroat world of sales representatives clawing their way to the top. As an employee at Yeyo's, Rafael works in the women's department to maintain womanizing access to fellow hot female coworkers. While competing for a promotion, however, he accidentally kills his competitor, Don Antonio Fraguas (Luis Varela). Witness Lourdes (Monica Cervera), the ugliest woman at Yeyo's, demands sex with Rafael in exchange for keeping his crime secret. As Rafael grows frustrated with this blackmailing arrangement, the ghost of Don Antonio coaches him on how to kill his possessive accomplice. Director Alex de la Iglesia's satire about consumer culture and machismo manifests in Rafael as a love of nice suits and a fear of commitment. Rafael is a buffoon, stealing champagne and lobsters from Yeyo's grocery store, or seducing clerks in dressing rooms. Describing an underwear shopper as "strolling through lingerie like a deer in the undergrowth," Rafael reveals volumes about the kind of character Iglesia mocks. As in Glengarry Glen Ross, humor in The Perfect Crime is a bit morbid, especially when the two sales reps must cram Don Antonio's body into an incinerator. A well-written script, and characters who can turn potentially corny situations into smart black humor, make for pleasant viewing. --Trinie Dalton