Lowlife

The actors here give some incredible performances - the director really got the utmost from them. The story is cleverly intertwined and I found myself really rooting for El Monstruo.

Be warned the opening scenes are harsh and set the tone but it does settle down to a consistent violence after the first acts.

LOWLIFE was hyped up quite a bit for supposed similarities to PULP FICTION. It's similar on the surface only, and while it's not nearly as good as the earlier film, it's still a lot of fun.

For a low budget film, the acting and production value are very good. There are two or three very fun scenes. There's some corny stuff in here too, but nothing too bad. Feels like the filmmakers had a pretty good idea of what they were doing. Recommend.

This film had a Mexican film flavor to it - low cost production, everyday people, gang mentality, a little over-the-top killing. Dialogue, especially by the Nazi tatted ex-con, was believably hilariously raw. Character El Monstruo was great, although not a particularly challenging role. A negative was a not coherently edited, jumping around too much, storyline.

Specifically, Nicki Micheaux's acting. After I saw "Lowlife" I had to look her up, see what she had done before. For a Tarantino-esque crime thriller her acting was right on point, dare I say even Oscar worthy?

I like films where you see things that you've never seen before. In this case, there were quite a few, from the failed luchador who keeps his mask on all the time to the kid with the swastika on his face who, as it turned out, wasn't even racist at all. You can file this one under "must see." It'll be worth it.

At times gory, a gritty, enjoyable romp. Dark humour, you won't be disappointed.