Movie Review - Red Cockroaches

By Ron Cotton - November 10, 2005

Directed By Miguel Coyula
20 Film Festival Awards - Best Film/Grand Jury Prize (7 Wins)

“I would say that it doesn’t matter is you don’t have the money. Just start to film and then have the guts to finish no matter what it takes, while keeping your vision intact.”
- Miguel Coyula, Tech Talk (redcockroachesmovie.com)

A dark tale of incest isn’t normally my cup of tea, especially when director Miguel Coyula states in his ‘Making Of’ that he makes films that he’d love to watch. As the shivers down my spine roll down my back, I take pause. This is an independent movie made with the fewest elements: Two-Thousand Dollars, a Canon GL1, a Mac with Final Cut Pro 3, Skale Tracker, Cast with NO Crew.

This Cuban director Wrote, Directed, Edited, Produced, PD, and Composed this full-length feature. It has won 20 independent awards. Heretic Films current DVD release includes a Black & White short called Valvula De Luz (Light Valve) which is JUST as impressive. At one point, a nuclear explosion happens in the middle of a scene. To produce this same effect in other scenes, Miguel Coyula slowly boosts the contrast to give the “explosion” effect. This is just one example of his ingenuity.

“I simply don’t have the time or the money to get the required insurance and permits. That’s not what filmmaking is about. I don’t bother anybody with just my small camera and no crew around me.”
- Miguel Coyula, Tech Talk (redcockroachesmovie.com)

Miguel feels that guerilla filmmaking is of the norm and had one brush with the law during the filming of Red Cockroaches. Miguel’s lighting is not unlike Robert Rodriguez’s setup for El Mariachi, however, the gels seemed more effective in Red Cockroaches. He’d have to re-record the audio multiple times and fix things in post. It’s not much of a surprise that Red Cockroaches took approximately one year to film and one year in post. Miguel's post work is simply amazing. Many visual effects that used layers upon layers.

“What was really amazing was how quickly he was able to set up a scene. Having now seen the final product, it baffles me how he managed to never paint himself in a corner.”
-Jeff Pucillo, ‘Nick’

Because of Miguel Coyula demands full control of his shoot, in most cases, he does all the work. Once he’s made a shot, he’d effectively change his shots, because Miguel feels that your subject should be looked at differently every time, so a new facet of interest may be found. Miguel fears long static shots, finding them tedious and tend to bore an audience.

“I cast people ... who have an off-beat quality.”
- Miguel Coyula, Commentary of Red Cockroaches

His actors were unique in that attractiveness didn’t matter as much as if he found the people to be interesting. His value on Raw acting talent outweighed any other factor. He also knew how to get his performance from his actors. Instead of forcing the shot and his actors, Coyula is a patent director. His focus was including every element he promised himself on the script capturing everything needed for post and always striving for quality.

Miguel Copula’s style as a director is not unlike other Europeans whose major focus is on strong set-pieces, odd camera angles, and cinematic clichés. At times, Coyula relentless intercuts are overwhelming to the scene. Some transitions are intricate to complex and at times overwhelming. All of this aside, Coyula’s individual shots are artistic and each shot near perfection from this low-budget shoot.

Let me thank both Heretic Films and Miguel Coyula for such a great DVD release that’s worth its retail price. For a miniDV movie, it’s amazing the amount of detail captured and how much post improved the imagery. Red Cockroaches is spreading and can be found at your local Blockbuster and at Amazon.com. Thank you Miguel Coyula for keeping the dream of independent filmmaking alive.

You can read my other review at 10kbullets.com.