Three female friends are there for each other’s personal storms. One is a coke-addled sensation addict, one aspires to be an artist (and does her share of powder too) and the third is taking refuge from an unhappy marriage and questioning her sexual identity. Many scenes of heightened emotion are the order of the day.
The title (translated as “On the Edge”) recalls Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but Teresa Suarez isn’t quite in Pedro Almodovar’s league. The film has some fine comic moments (I’m thinking of one dream sequence in particular), and plenty of energy, but some of that is second-hand: a coke-frenzied drive early in the film more than slightly recalls Ray Liotta’s paranoid excursion in GoodFellas. Further, despite the universally vile male characters in the film, many of the protagonists’ problems are so obviously of their own making that they are hard to care for.
Audio
The music makes a rather weak first impression – it is in 5.1, but it sounds a bit thin. Later on, it kicks in with a bit more oomph, however. There are some fairly decent environmental effects, but they aren’t spectacular. The dialogue, however, is without distortion. And my quibbles shouldn’t obscure the fact that, in essence, the sound is very clear and unobjectionable.
Video
First, the good: the grain is minimal, and often non-existent; the colours and contrasts are strong, with fine blacks, and natural flesh tones; and the image is sharp. Now, the problem: the picture is presented in a non-anamorphic widescreen. If the picture is expanded to fit a 16:9 screen, the subtitles become invisible. So non-Spanish-speaking viewers with widescreen TVs are going to have to make some awkward choices.
Special Features
A quarter of an hour of trailers accompany the short film “Tu Mataste A Tarantino.” And that’s it.
Closing Thoughts
Lots going on here, some quite engaging, some annoying. It didn’t entirely work for me, but it might for you.
