Red Cockroaches

Red Cockroaches is one of the most amazing, surreal microcinema features I’ve experienced. Set in a world of genetic manipulation polluted with bizarre bouts of acid rain, Adam, a lonely man in his twenties, meets Lily, an attractive young woman who disrupts the banality of his day-to-day existence. Torn between his desire and his conscience, he makes choices and faces their eventual consequences. Together, Adam and Lily embark on an obsessive-destructive journey which reveals dark family secrets and forbidden desires.

Writer/Director Miguel Coyula weaves a subtle and intriguing story with an inventive visual style that makes the entire experience as if you were watching a dream, where strange occurrences somehow connect and yet everything seems slightly off-center. To say I understood every minute of this film would be a lie, but saying that I completely trusted Coyula’s vision would be an emphatic yes. From the occasional invasive sound of insects, to hovering automobiles in the sky, to the dogs viciously barking in the distance, even though I may not have understood their purpose, I knew that Coyula did. It’s the difference between watching a film where you know the director has complete control over the film in an effort to bring a story to life and when a director layers in style for style’s sake… it’s the difference between watching art and watching something “artsy.”

Coyula’s odd and disturbing tale is accentuated by his unique visual imagery and symbolism. No shot, no angle, or line of dialogue is passively displayed. Each carries weight and either symbolic or viseral meaning. The music, also composed by Coyula, is haunting and perpetuates the nightmare-like quality of the piece. The cast, featuring Adam Plotch and Talia Rubel, is excellent, expressing a combined sense of confusion, destructive attraction, and impending tragedy. And Adam’s mother, performed by Diane Spodarek, is wonderful as a woman who’s never recovered from the loss of her daughter.

As is stated on their website, Red Cockroaches is “mysterious and seductive, the film offers very few answers and takes us on a surreal journey with a devastating climax.” And Coyula’s journey is something you should all take, as it is a wonderful achievement in microcinema.  As soon as this is available on DVD, I’m adding it to my library.  I suggest you do the same.

Four and 1/2 stars

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