| Red Cockroaches | |
| Starring: | Adam Plotch Talia Rubel Jeff Pucillo Diane Spodarek |
| Director: | Miguel Coyula |
| Producer: | Miguel Coyula |
| Distributor: | Vinegar Syndrome (US) / Herectic Films (US) |
| Runtime: | 82 minutes |
| Country: | Cuba, USA |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | 2000 USD |
| Music: | Miguel Coyula |
Red Cockroaches (Spanish: Cucarachas Rojas) is a film released in 2003. This feature film was the debut production of Miguel Coyula and was the result of a two-year effort on a $2,000 budget. Shot entirely using a portable digital camcorder and edited on a home computer, Red Cockroaches is an example of DIY cinema. In its review, Variety called it a "A triumph of technology in the hands of a visionary with know-how..." It is the first of a trilogy which continues with Blue Heart (film).
A young man meets a mysterious girl in the subway and gets romantically involved with her, only to later discover that she might be his long lost sister. Dark and atmospheric, the world the characters inhabit is an alternative New York City with bouts of Acid Rain and ruled by an omnipotent cloning company called DNA21.
Based on carefully planned storyboards, every time there is a cut in the film it is to a new camera setup that hasn't been used before, as opposed to traditional film language where the editor cuts back to the same shot during a scene. In the case of Red Cockroaches the influence of comic book storytelling is obvious.
Some reviewers have pointed that scene transitions and edits mimic the effect of a pop-up book.[1]
Rather than attempting to make DV look like film, the colors were digitally manipulated to the extreme with the purpose of enhancing the atmosphere. This along with multiple layer composites generated the movie’s distinctive, often saturated look.