Sabor tropical (2009)

Travel, particularly to Latin America, is of great interest to me. After reading previous reviews, I was looking forward to seeing Sabor Tropical, although there was an element throughout the reviews that was vaguely troubling to me. After watching the "director's cut", I feel compelled to write a review that will spare others from an awful waste of time and money. First, most of the movie is presented as footage from a hand held video camera--the cinematography is therefore terrible. The perspective of Panama is street scenes behind one of the characters that could have been shot in Newark, New Jersey, or out of a moving car window of sky and fields that could have been in Iowa. The scenes of Carnival were shot at night with a voice over introduction that sounded like it was being read from a travel brochure. Second, the "star" is a narcissistic exhibitionist (to be kind) who is periodically referred to in the movie as resembling Colin Ferrel or James Dean--he doesn't. Finally, production values, story line, writing, acting, and directing are among some the the worst I've ever seen. Spare yourself.

As I watched Sabor, the first thing that came to mind is oh my god, that Matthew Leitch is one hot actor. His performance was riveting. I found the documentary style was fascinating. I found the carnival in Panama to be colorful and lively specially because of the high energy an colorful costumes. The ending was kinda shocking and amazing... I thought it was genius. I recommend this film because it very original and thought provoking. At first I wasn't so crazy about the colombian guy but as I thought about it his performance was very realistic. His character was believable as he was not a Hollywood type actor. I thought the story was so realistic you could not tell what was scripted and what was not. As I watched it on DVD, I would have really liked to have seen it on the big screen for it think it would have had a bigger impact. Some movies you just have to see them on the big screen and that's my preferred way I would have liked to have seen this.

For those who don't travel often, yet are used to taking their bad habits with them into other cultures, here is film that you can use as a cautionary tale. The film starts out with the usual preparations for travel from Brian (played by Matthew Leitch) who's eagerness to meet local women online gets him into serious trouble. What makes this film work so well is the reality of the possibilities. Everything that happens to the main character could happen to you. What is especially disturbing is how many of us go to other countries without knowing much about the culture and laws and how exposed we could be to local organized crime. Unfortunately many suffer the consequences cause we become easy targets. This is what happened to our happy tourist Brian. He's like a college kid who goes to a spring break that turns sour. Some scenes were very hard to watch and excessive for my taste but that's just my personal opinion. However, I was able to get pass that because I was very much engaged in the story. Sabor is also a character study of how most of us use the camera and internet to communicate intimate information to someone we don't know, yet may seem trusting. This film should be seen specially because it is filled with some very dark and memorable moments. recommended.

Destino/ Destinations. Travels are the best school, used to say my grandmother, and Jorge Ameer is one director who's always traveling to tell us stories about the way places have an influence over our fates. In Spanish the world destination is similar to the one we use for fate (destino), and I'm sure it has been noticed by the director, who's fluent in both languages. However, these both words seem to have been taken seriously by him: in THE HOUSE OF ADAM, the mentioned house has a secret that defines its principal character. In THE SINGING FOREST, a supernatural experience links all if his characters to the Nazi Germany, and in SABOR TROPICAL, a travel is about to change the life of its main characters forever: what's nice and soft at the beginnings is transformed to a hard ending. With a beautiful performance of fantastic actor Matthew Litch (better known as the actor form the film AKA), SABOR TROPICAL is a bittersweet story of loneliness, desperation, and deception. A video diary that it's half a cautionary tale, half an ego trip, mixed with hot explicit sex scenes. It's the best film Jorge Ameer has brought us to his audience yet, and certainly a great love letter to Panamá's carnival!