In the darkness of Palma de Mallorca In the sultry areas of Palma de Mallorca, hidden from the eyes of carefree tourists, life flows, the laws of which are very far from those established by the state. Here freed from prison bandit Rodolfo is obsessed with finding a prostitute nicknamed “Curly”, which he considers guilty of his troubles. In turn, the right-hand man of the local mafia boss, nicknamed the “Mursian”, is looking for Rodolfo to remind him of the debt, which can only be repaid by rendering him a specific service. At the same time, Curlyashka hides her father, who killed his wife and her lover in a fit of jealousy. He is wanted by experienced police officer Ricardo, for whom this is the last case before retirement, and his young partner Angel, who once had a personal relationship with Kudryashka and continues to love her. Their search will inevitably cross with leaving bloody traces in an attempt to avoid revenge of the Mursian Rodolfo.
Having heard the name “Palma de Mallorca”, the vast majority will imagine sun-drenched beaches, crowds of carefree tourists, beautiful girls in bikinis and other “gentle surfs”. But in the film of the indigenous Balearic Martin Garrido, the capital of the archipelago appears to be a completely different city. Here in the gloomy, uncollected, crooked streets, it is dangerous for a stranger to appear; here in the dirty dens, bandits and prostitutes live, ready for a few notes for any crime; here corrupt policemen try to preserve the appearance of order, pursuing those who can not pay for their own safety. In short, the famous all over the planet resort is a classic “Sin City” of traditional noir.
However, not only the external entourage was borrowed by the balearician from the genre popular in the 40s - 50s of the last century. From there, the classic pair of policemen also migrated to Clinging to Life: the elderly, moderately corrupt cynic Ricardo and his young brutal partner Angel, not much different in manners from the criminal “brother”. About the criminal element, headed by the cult actor of the Spanish horror Paul Nashy in the role of the right hand boss of the local mafia “The Murcian”, and can not talk – loyally loved the movie of the middle of the century, the actor was in one of his favorite images. However, the role of Commissioner Eduardo Fajardo is also from there – from the classic old cinema. He outplayed so many charismatic Western villains and spy fighters in his lifetime that it was not difficult for him to try on the image of a moderately honest policeman. Perhaps only Angel performed by the director himself connects the picture with the 80s. His character, in a dirty stretched T-shirt, excavated hair and rough manners, is not associated with the dress code and face control of traditional noir. In the “Maltese Falcon”, this parvenu would not be missed.
Unfortunately, due to the bankruptcy of the production company, the film did not appear on the screens, being out of the public attention for 30 years. But during this time, noir managed to come out of oblivion and regain popularity: not as much as in the heyday of the genre, but quite stable, with an army of new fans. For them, the “black detective” in Balearic can be an interesting discovery. Moreover, I repeat, there are two chic acting works of veterans of Spanish cinema. Another thing is that their young partners: Beatrice Baron in the lead female role of a prostitute nicknamed “Curly” and Ruperto Ares in the role of “scumbag” Rodolfo are not on the same wavelength with them. Desperate attempts by Garrido himself, with the help of his hero, to somehow connect the two vectors into one whole, do not bring success because of too much difference in acting skills. Neshi and Fajardo easily pull the blanket over themselves, making them forget that they are actually not alone in the frame.
Otherwise, Mordiendo la Vida probably wouldn’t have been on the shelf for decades. Yet despite far from perfect directorial work, he remains sturdy and attention-grabbing for an hour and a half of action noir. With the atmosphere, uncompromising rigidity (even brutality) of the action, the absence of even a hint of a happy ending, everything is fine here. The dark side of Palma de Mallorca under the arms of Martin Garrido reveals all shades of gray screen color. And the story of the search for the old man who killed his wife and her lover turns into a series of senseless bloody crimes committed in a dirty city cloak, where everyone clings to life as much as possible. As for the sea and the sun, the first will never appear in the frame, and the second will never appear. The second seems to regularly shine, illuminating the dirty streets of the big city. But the characters of the picture do not bother to raise their heads to the blue sky - they have no time. They are engaged in a struggle for survival in which, most likely, there will never be a winner.