El Pez Que Fuma -Venezuela Film US VHS Mago Home Video VHS
EL PEZ QUE FUMA ( 1977 ) aka The Smoking Fish MAGO USA VHS Release NTSC Video Spanish Language - Venezuelan Produced FIlm Stars: Miguel Angel Landa Hilda Vera Orlando Urdaneta Haydee Balza Rafael Briceno Arturo Calderon, Claudio Brook, , Mimi Lazo. Written & Directed by: Roman Chalbaud ( sagrado u obsceno - bodas de papel ) Widely considered to be one of the best films ever to come out of Venezuela. Miguel Angel Landa plays a handsome young man who is just released from prison. He goes to a popular bordello / nightspot called El Pez Que Fuma ( the smoking fish) located in the outskirts of Caracas. The female owner La Garza hires the ex-con as a handyman. Soon, they enter into a romantic relationship. Who ever manages to sustain her love will inherit the club. However, he soon finds that he has two other competitors for the affections of La Garza. The club becomes a pressure cooker that symbolizes the power struggles and hierarchy of Venezuelan society.
The film making style is supremely realistic and on par with the slice of life reality scenes of Martin Scorsese films and European New Wave cinema of the 60's.
Wikipedia Entry for Pez Que Fuma:
NO SPOLIERS
Made in 1977 during the "Golden Age" of the Venezuelan cinema, it is a tale of power, represented by the owner of the business, and the way of power is passed down from generation to generation, repeating the same pattern time and again: the one who rises to power has their moment of glory, and then is pushed aside in turn. La Garza is the name of the owner of the business, and, although she is the one who is really in control of the brothel and its workers, she allows her lovers to believe that they in some way are running things, including herself by giving them control over the administration of the Pez que Fuma, the money and anything else they want. Three men are competing for the love of La Garza, and thereby, control of the Pez que Fuma: The story, although reflects a social reality of Venezuela, and doesn’t leave out what have become typical ingredients of the Venezuela national cinema, the slums, prostitutes, nudity, bad language, delinquency, does not either make them its prime players at the centre of the story. It also manages incorporate novel elements, such as the symbolism of the music that accompanies the images and puts across the feelings of the protagonists as much as the situations themselves, besides representing a very typical aspect of the Venezuelan culture.
NOTES: The film is based on the play El Pez Que Fuma
Hilda Vera who plays ( la garza ) can be see in the Mago home video release of TRAMPA INOCENTE. and Historias De Mujeres. A Venezuelan born actress who appeared in many US 60's TV Series including Gunsmoke, Mission Impossible, the Beverly Hillbillies.
Miguel Angel Landa and Orlando Urdaneta also appeared together in the Venezuelan film Sagrado u Obsceno also on Mago Home Video in the US This film has not been released in the US on DVD. The Pics are from the Mago Video Corp Release VHS Spanish Language Not Subtitled.
