Maravillas

An abrasive curio that begs anything but art-movie reverence from its audience, this slyly surreal patchwork stitches together 'problem pic' incidentals with provocative glee and no hint of a moralistic message. The culture-clash incongruity of Nina Hagen's 'African Reggae' and an image of walking along a precipice sets the tone for a narrative that attaches itself to a 16-year-old girl's encounters wth casual crime, a corrupt church, a charmed circle of godfatherly Jews, a father lazily resigned to porn and yoghurt, and a Judas identified with electric-chair icons Caryl Chessman and Gary Gilmore. Its inconsequentiality appearing alternately savage and absurd, with even the apocalypse conjured only in a kids' TV cartoon, the result is admirably irresponsible.