This was one of the most enjoyable film experiences I have had this year. I saw the film at the AFI festival in Los Angeles; it is going to be released in the US in April under the title "Don't Tempt Me."
Cruz (devil) and Abril (angel) are cast against type and it works very well, Cruz giving one of her best performances. Bernal is also memorable as a very likeable devil, and Birchir is completely convincing as the frustrated boxer whose soul hangs in the balance.
The film starts out with an amazing bit of philosophical exposition, a shock for anyone who is used to watching Hollywood fare. You can't imagine dialogue like this is a Hollywood film; yet it is funny, captivating, brilliant. The humor in the film is, by American standards, sophisticated and intelligent; yet the film is full of sexual imagery and violence (nothing extreme but energizing to the story) and is highly accessible. It should appeal to a fairly wide audience, especially since there are so many Spanish speakers in the US.
It's a superb and entertaining morality play, with the action, drama and comedy tightly interwoven; with a political subtext that itself is the driving force behind the film.
Hell is portrayed as an English speaking corporation in the American style (although staffed with Europeans), and Heaven mostly takes place in a French-speaking Parisian nightclub. The Earth scenes are in Spain, and the meetings between angels and devils in Latin. This all works very well and the subtitles are easy to follow.
The soundtrack begins with a Dylan song I hadn't heard before, too.
