CRONICAS (Chronicles)

Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Palm Pictures
Grade: B
Directed by: Sebastian Cordero
Written by: Sebastian Cordero
Cast: Damian Alcazar, John Leguizamo, Gloria Leyton, Alfred
Molina, Leonor Watling, Jose Maria Yazpik
Screened at: Review, NYC, 6/23/05

Nobody doubts that TV has had a vast influence on the habits
and culture of those who watch it. Elections are won and lost on
TV ads, TV debates, and TV coverage of campaigns. No-one
dismisses the idea that Bush won the presidency because on
TV he comes across as a guy you'd want to have a beer with,
while Kerry, like Al Gore, waxes wooden. Nor is it a surprise
that even in "developing" areas of the world (such as Port au
Prince, where the poverty-stricken majority flock to the public
parks to watch the screens that they cannot afford in their
homes), TV is like an avuncular friend.

In "Cronicas," a movie by Sebastian Cordero (who directed the
far sexier and slicker "Y tu mama tambien), TV is shown to be
an influence in a small town in Ecuador not just on the less
educated masses who watch it, but even on one particular,
ostensibly highly-educated judge. In fact the newscaster who
wields his microphone in the service of investigative reporting
has more clout than the anchor-person stationed in Miami
(played by Alfred Molina). That's not all: this particular
investigative reporter not only slants the news within the
particularly important interview he conducts but walks a couple
of steps ahead of the police captain in the Ecuadorian town of
Babahoyo, where photography director Enrique Chediak
captures the humidity and the heat–both climatically and on a
human level.

The central chronicler, Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo),
working with a producer Marisa Iturralde (Leonor Watling) and
photographer Ivan Suarez (Jose Maria Yazpik), is preparing for
his next assignment in Medellin, Colombia, when he becomes
obsessed with a serial killer who is roaming free, a cur called
the Butcher of Babahoyo for having tortured, sexually abused
and killed one hundred fifty children. When in a seemingly
unrelated event, Vinicio Cepeda (Damian Alcazar) accidentally
smashes his truck into a child running into the street and killing
him, the townspeople, already on edge because of the serial
killings, attack him and sets him ablaze, to be saved by the
influential Monolo–who makes sure that his team is catching
everything on film. In a series of discussions which Monolo
holds with Vinicio, a deal is negotiated. In return for filming an
interview favorable to the jailed fellow, one which might
influence a judge to order the man released, Vinicio will tell the
reporter what he knows about the serial killer who, he says,
once traveled with him and guilt-ridden, told him of his crimes.

"Cronicas" is John Leguizamo's first Spanish-language film.
Surprising? Leguizamo was born in Colombia but came to the
U.S. at the age of four, apparently concentrating on speaking
the tongue of his new country. In fact the producers were
unsure that Leguizamo could acquit himself fluently in Spanish,
but their reservations were for nought as this marvelously
talented performer does just fine. From time to time he rattles
off some sentences in English to his two colleagues, who
answer in Spanish.

The opening scene is a gem: a scary, visceral look at a man
who is attacked by an enraged populace after running over the
boy, pulled from his vehicle, beaten up horribly, doused with
gasoline and set on fire. Most of the story, however, stresses
dialogue rather than violent action. As we watch the prisoner
hold court with the popular journalist–who is frequently asked for
autographs–we sense that each man is pulling the other's
strings. Vinicio wants out. Manolo wants to solve the crime of
serial killings ahead of the cops to gain even greater glory. The
police, in the form of Capitan Bolivar Rojas (Camilo Luzuriaga),
are predictably hostile to the reporter for messing with their turf.
The principal activity is the negotiation between two intelligent,
educated men, each wanting something from the other, each
dancing around the other–one to gain information, the other to
get a favorable interview that would compel a judge to give him
his freedom.

Some of the story is bogged down by unnecessary verbiage,
though, as the script calls for frequent comments by the news
team about their assignment in Medellin and about their
anticipated trip back to Miami. Aside from a silly scene thrown
in because somehow sex is obligatory, the journalist has a one-
night stand with the producer, who has cheated on her anchor-
man husband for the first time. Marisa, obviously attracted to
the newscaster, acts as a spokesperson for the audience in the
theater, rooting for him to uncover clues about the serial killings
while at the same time deploring his invasion of territory that
belongs within the province of the police.

Shot with a handheld camera, "Cronicas" displays the acting
bravura of Mr. Leguizamo while highlighting a well-developed
study of the imprisoned man played by the Mexican actor,
Danian Alcazar. If writer-director Cordero's aim is to
demonstrate the influence of the media on the case,
emphasizing how interference by a reporter actually leads to a
setback in the hunt for a serial killer, he's telling us nothing we
do not already know.

Rated R. 98 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com