El Quetzal de Jade
The Jade Bird

USA / Guatemala 2013
produced by
Emily Paiz for Dastoli Digital
directed by Robert Dastoli, James Dastoli
starring Dario Soler, Marlene Marquez, David Saucedo, Luis Anguiano, Lizelle Gutierrez, Isaak Gracia, Jane Noble, Carlos Flores, Anthony L. Fernandez, Michael Paul Garcia, Silvana Zender, Robert Fabiani, Bruce Klefstad, Alan Ehrlich, Clint Jung, Jose Barroso, Yong Kim, Dija Dowling, Xavier Mendoza, Armando Casanas, Danny Ayala, Javier Lezama, Richie Quinto, Octavio Pizano, Carlos Zelaya, Eymard Cabling, Eric Wang, Tian Wang, Glenn Zhang, Brett Ryan Bonowicz, Gregory Medina, Diego Kontarovsky, Fernando Flores
written by Robert Dastoli, James Dastoli, music by Sean Beeson

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Flores (Dario Soler) is a small fry LA private eye who accepts an assignment of a not-all-that-unhappy widow (Jane Noble) to track down an item that belonged to her husband but for which he quite obviously got killed down in Guatemala, the Quetzal de Jade (Jade Bird), a Mayan jade statue of (apparently) immense value. Flores is good at what he does, and once in Guatemala, he has made friends with Manuel (David Saucedo) in no time, a guy who knew the deceased and a few of his associates - and somehow, Flores finds out about a handover of the jade bird between crime kingpin Bodega (Luis Anguiano) and a Chinatown syndicate, a handover that Flores somehow manages to prevent - and as the result of which Bodega finds out that the jade bird he has is a fake ...

You see, Bodega has a girlfriend, Anabel (Marlene Marquez), and she once was the deceased's mistress and has actually shot him and stole the jade bird - but now that Bodega has found out that the bird she has handed over to him isn't the genuine article, her life's not worth much. Flores however is good at what he does and has tracked her down in no time, and they have a, shall we say romantic date - that's interrupted only when Flores is knocked out, and when he comes to, he finds himself on the run from Bodega's men ...

In Quebec, Anabel and her partner in crime, none other than Manuel, hook up with her sister and fence (Lizelle Gutierrez), and they want to get rid of the bird quick ... but somehow, Flores has tracked them down to here - and what's worse, so has Bodega, and somehow he gets his hands on the bird.

So all is lost?

No, actually it's worse, Flores has to team up with Anabel to retrieve the bird from Bodega - but Bodega isn't one to give the thing up easily, and Anabel doesn't even make an effort to pretend she's one to be trusted ...

Quite obviously inspired by film noirs of old (and it takes no film buff to note some parallels to the iconic The Maltese Falcon here), El Quetzal de Jade is nevertheless a movie that doesn't just live in the past but manages to come into its own thanks to some explosive action but also atmospheric, sometimes even lyrical filmmaking, added exoticism thanks to its international locations, a great ensemble cast, and a script that, while seemingly following genre guidelines, manages to surprise at all the right moments. In all, it doesn't matter in the least whether you're into film noir or not, if you're into crime thrillers as such, you will be greatly entertained!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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