Manchas de sangre en un coche nuevo

Blood Stains in a New Car offers up a variation on Lady Macbeth's bloody hands. A rich loser gets an expensive car from his wife as an anniversary present. On his way home from work, he sees a car turned over at the side of the road, but not wanting to get blood on his new car, he drives off. A man and his son are burnt to death when the wrecked car catches fire. Soon afterward, the rich guy starts seeing blood appearing from out of nowhere all over the upholstery of his new car.

Some have perceived an allegorical aspect to the film. Perhaps so, but as drama, Blood Stains in a New Car is completely pedestrian (pun intended). The first problem is that the viewer has a hard time caring about the rich loser. He made most of his money by marrying a rich, but cold, wife (Lucia Bose). His art restoration business is just a way of selling fakes to rich, ignorant art collectors overseas. He is boastful, arrogant, and quite frankly gets what he deserves. Another problem is that the film tries way too hard to deliver an ironic ending. When said denouncement arrives, it feels heavily forced.

On the plus side, the film is short and professionally made. Too bad it's just not very interesting. Luis Bunuel might have made something worthwhile out of this plot (he would have injected some needed dark humor into the tragedy), but director Antonio Mercero is not up to the task.

Although Blood Stains in a New Car shares a few of the themes of David Cronenberg's Crash, one should not expect that level of intensity or graphicness. This is strictly a PG-13 ride.