Arturo Ripstein's film is a rather unpleasant true crime story (based on real-life events) relayed through an art house aesthetic that's often technically impressive, but rarely memorable. Shot in stark black-and-white without a soundtrack, the film is clearly going for a minimalist trajectory, but the style doesn't much but make an ugly story uglier. It just sorely lacks the character development for us audience members to really care about the decadence, nor does it find a way to make the material cinematically interesting. A noble effort, but it's not likely to be mistaken for art.