Sigal Eraz in Across the Line (2000)

Clips

Pics

Review

This isn't bad as a "late night, nothing to do" film, even though it was produced and directed by unknowns, and stars a bunch of people you probably never heard of (and features Adrienne Barbeau in a very small role!).

A couple of Texans are touring Mexico when a young woman sneaks into their Winnebago, planning to use it as her entree into the United States. As the couple makes their way back to Texas, they stop to photograph a sunrise, and in the process they inadvertently capture some stills of a drug deal gone sour. The bad guys see their vehicle, stop them, and kill them, little knowing that the stowaway saw everything.

From that cauldron comes the stew of corrupt border officials, drugs, and an honest sheriff who finds the clues leading to a conclusion he'd rather not draw. The murder/drug plot is in the foreground, but the background is the real-life experience of the Latins trying to find their way into the States. (In this case, they originate in Guatemala)

The lovely Sigal Erez, not only stripped stark naked to play the part of the stowaway, but she also co-wrote the script with the director, Martin Spottl. And she has an impressive body, as well as an interesting ethnic face, although I think she is probably older than the ingénue role implied.

As far as I know, this is the only film effort from either Spottl or Erez. Erez also wrote 13 episodes of the Televisa drama Hotel San Miguel. The star, Brad Johnson, is a competent veteran TV guy who made the People Magazine "50 Most Beautiful List" a decade ago, but whose career has drifted since.

This is OK for a small-budget independent movie, but note very carefully that some of the glowing customer raves at IMDb and amazon.com seem to have been written by people involved in the movie.

Box office: as far as I know, this film went straight-to-vid. No reviews are available. It was featured at the San Diego Latino Film Festival in March.

Written by: Scoopy...Scoopy.net