Sweet Karma and Exploitation: A Movie Review

*full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by Phase 4 Films.

Director: Andrew Thomas Hunt.

Writers: James Fler, Michael Paszt and Andrew Thomas Hunt.

Canadians continually get a bad wrap in film. In Phase 4 Film's Sweet Karma, Canadians are drug peddlers, rapists and extortionists. However, many of the characters in Sweet Karma are illegal immigrants, so you obviously cannot make a sweeping generalization of all Canadians. Although there are a few bad apples (non-hockey fans) north of the border. In the film, which releases on DVD June 14th, Karma terrorizes an underworld Russian-born crime syndicate. Her method of terror involves seductive charm and a penchant for brutal violence.

Heroine and central character Karma (Shera Bechard) goes in search of her missing sister in Canada, from Russia. She believes that Anna (Patricia Stasiak) has been murdered by a group of street hustlers and pimps. Her introduction to the gang involves gunfire, strangulation and impalings. Sweet Karma stays true to her namesake, while the scum of the street are reduced to an undercover cop (John Tokatlidis), the crime boss (Frank J. Zupancic) and his viper-like wife (Laura McLean). However, karma catches up to everyone, in the end.

One of the elements that may or may not appeal to audiences is the use of sexploitation in the film. Much of the early action takes place at a seedy strip club, where dancers perform in various states of undress. You are in restricted territory here folks. As well, actress Shera Bechard, a Playboy Playmate, is often running through parking lots in skimpy, and inappropriate underwear and director Andrew Thomas Hunt (I Like You) does not shy away from the film's explicit sexuality.

Finally, Sweet Karma is a tale of revenge. Just as Achilles killed Hector for Patroclus' death in the ten year Trojan war and Paris killed Achilles for the death of his brother Hector, Karma follows a macabre path, which involves more and more killing. This battle, like the Trojan one, is also instigated under the pretense of romanticism. Yet, there is no liberty to be found in Sweet Karma, as the path of death cannot be quit thanks to an unerasable past. Karma might have earned some type of foggy justice, but the result is misery for the heroine and for those who tried to stand in her way.

Sweet Karma is a cautionary tale on the use and misuse of violence. While authorities seem impotent to intervene in the film's events, writers James Fler, Michael Paszt and Andrew Thomas Hunt also argue that vigilante justice is a weapon of last resort. In the end, this crime thriller is a gritty and bloody ride through a criminal underworld, which is, thankfully, rarely seen.

Overall: 7 out of 10 (some of the Russian accents were poor, the heroine is strangely muted, but this is a pretty entertaining ride through and through).

This is a very adult film:



Advertise Here - Contact me Michael Allen at 28DLA

 |  |  |  | 

Subscribe to 28 Days Later: An Analysis by Email

Posted in: 2011,crime thriller,movie review,sex trade,sexual abuse,sexuality,sexy