Colombia's BLOOD AND RAIN (LA SANGRE Y LA LLUVIA) Impresses.

If there is a down side to ScreenAnarchy being as Toronto-centered as it is it is that every year in September we focus in tight on the massive Toronto International Film Festival. And while we provide - I think, anyway - great coverage of the big fest it is often too easy for us to get so caught up in what's going on here that we forget that there is another massive festival happening nearly simultaneously over in Europe. We probably don't cover Venice nearly as much as we should and, as a consequence, six or seven months down the road every year I stumble across a film or two that looks absolutely fantastic and can't figure out how it is I haven't heard of it before. Answer: It premiered in Venice.

And on that note, say hello to Jorge Navas' Colombian crime drama Blood And Rain.  Says Venice:

Jorge and Ángela, two lonely beings searching for the meaning of their existence, meet on a rainy night in the dark and violent streets of Bogotá. Jorge, a young cab driver, emotionally destroyed by the recent death of his brother at the hands of a group of criminals, seeks revenge. Ángela is an artist and princess of the night, addicted to cocaine and the city's labyrinths. The loneliness of the night, always the same night, the void of the streets, always the same void, and the city's violence, will lead them to a dark and redeeming encounter with themselves, much in the same way that rain, like tears and blood, calms thirst and brings life to cold asphalt.

Observers have been saying for a couple years now to keep an eye on Latin America and, according to my eyes, Colombia is quickly establishing itself as the home of high end crime drama.  Take a look at the trailer below.