Gueros (2014)

Directed by: Alonso Ruiz Palacios
Country: Mexico

Movie Review: It’s impossible not to feel some empathy with “Gueros”, a very Mexican experience with a touch of the 60’s French New Wave from debutant director Alonso Ruiz Palacios. With a virtuous sense of humor, Palacios, who co-wrote with Gibrán Portela (“The Golden Dream”), addresses the student youth in Mexico City through the story of Fede (Tenoch Huerta), aka Sombra, a reclusive, depressed, and aimless university student, experiencing panic attacks, whose life will change completely after the unforeseen arrival of his younger brother, Tomas (Sebastian Aguirre). The latter, evincing an ebullient personality, soon starts complaining and yelling against the numbness of his brother who shares the filthy apartment with another slacker called Santos (Leonardo Ortizgris). When Tomas finds out that an old popular Mexican singer, Epigmenio Cruz, is hospitalized nearby, they decide to visit him, right after the drunken Sombra has been forcibly evacuated from home due to stealing electricity from a neighbor. The times are of protest and a big student strike movement is taking place in the university and often throughout the streets. The leader of this movement is Sombra’s girlfriend, Ana (Ilse Salas), who is persuaded to join the trio of boys in an adventurous trip. A trip whose distinct and uneven episodes try to mirror the state of today’s Mexico with its revolutions, pop culture, and socio-political problems – aspects that not always take the best course here but also never dismantle our interest. In particular occasions, like when the protagonists admit they’re in a film within the film, it seems that the story is going to turn into something different, an expectation that keeps us holding on. “Gueros” makes sure to show all these conjunctures but never bothers in confronting or exploring them further. Nevertheless, ambition and filmmaking ability is something that Palacios attested; it’s a pity he didn’t take more advantage of that.

The Amazing Catfish (2014)

Directed by: Claudia Sainte-Luce
Country: Mexico / France

Movie Review: “The Amazing Catfish” is a Mexican drama that revolves around Claudia (Ximena Ayala), an unenthusiastic supermarket employee who was literally adopted by the HIV-positive Martha (Luisa Owen), after they've shared the same hospital room. Claudia was subjected to surgery after she was diagnosed with appendicitis while the moribund Martha is a dedicated mother of three daughters and a son, who was infected by the father of her two younger children. In their own way, each child is in need of attention – Ale, the oldest, is deeply affected by a breakup; Wendy seems lively and self-assured in her decisions but hides some worrying details of her life; the two youngest, Armando and Mariana, are frightened and disoriented with the situation of their mother. Claudia plays a central role within this family; the family she never had. More heartwarming than conspicuous, the film suffers from occasional relaxation, and its intentions of being seen as more natural as possible, sometimes fall in repetitive situations that don’t add much to the story. The characters could, and should, be better developed, but instead, the debutant filmmaker Claudia Sainte-Luce seemed more concerned about showing us bee stings, mosquito bites or jellyfish burns, besides Armando’s catfish swimming in a bowl of water. She tries to counterbalance the heaviness and sadness of the central story, creating situations that are both positive and encouraging – a vacation trip to the beach, friendly conversations, little moments of joy, a comforting shoulder when one has to cry. All this is justifiable but, even though, the film worked emotionally intermittent for me, ending as a personal letter that missed my essence’s address.

Heli (2013)

Directed by: Amat Escalante
Country: Mexico / others

Movie Review: Part of the Latin-American new wave cinema, “Heli”, is a powerful film set in Mexico, that starts with a memorable scene in which two harmed men are taken in the backside of a pickup truck and one of them is brutally hanged in a bridge. The story then shifts back in time to makes us get to know Heli, a car factory employer who shares house with his dad, wife, baby daughter, and younger sister, Estela. The latter is in love with a young police cadet who wants to marry her and runaway from small town, but choosing the wrong way to do it. Well informed, he steals a couple of cocaine packets, propriety of an unscrupulous gang, that were hidden in a remote place. This action will change the life of everyone, since the drug was placed inside the external water tank at Heli’s home. The visceral scenes of violence will stay in your head for a while, and to tell the truth, the film never lost meaning and was quite penetrating till the end. An adjacent subplot, regarding Heli’s marital crisis, ends up oddly related to the main one, and even here, we cannot stop being curious or get disarmed by the occurrences. “Heli” is an agonizingly depressive film that gives us a prospect of ruinous future for its characters through well-established frames. Helmer Amat Escalante won Palm Spring’s Cine-Latino award and was considered best director at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

We Are the Nobles (2013)

Directed by: Gary Alazraki
Country: Mexico

Movie Review: “Nosostros Los Nobles” a.k.a. “We are the Nobles” is a Mexican comedy that was turned into a top box-office in its origin country. Gary Alazraki’s directorial debut gives us the story of a rich family that suddenly became poor, in a stratagem of Germán Noble, a protective father and owner of a well-succeeded company, who made all the arrangements to teach their three slacker children a lesson on how tough life can be. Javi works with his father but only wants partying and is lost in ruinous business ideas; Barbara is the most spoiled and arrogant, willing to marry an opportunist who tries to pass himself as Spanish; Carlos, in turn, is a zen guy who makes part of an anti-capitalist group and is having an affair with his teacher. Therefore, no other option is available for them than start working hard in order to have some food at the table. After create this pretended situation, even Germán will understand that he himself has many things to learn about their children. Eased by the solidly built characters, the cast did a good job, helping to turn this social criticism in a watchable film, even considering its familiar tones and here and there some exaggerated situations. Adorned with warm colors, and more moralistic than really believable, “We Are the Nobles” gains in entertainment what lacks in originality, becoming the second comedy coming from Mexico released this year, along with “Instructions Not Included”.

Post Tenebras Lux (2012)

Directed by: Carlos Reygadas
Country: Mexico / others

Review: Carlos Reygadas’ particular way of filmmaking always caused me mixed sensations; he really knows how to create bewildering experiences but at the same time, there are always some setbacks that make me move away from his complex visions. “Post Tenebras Lux”, which means ‘light after darkness’, is a semi-autobiographical film that was made purposely to baffle us, being presented as a sort of a bizarre dream. The film, shot with rigor, presents a peculiar effect that consists in blurring the screen around the edges to enhance the dreamlike idea. The story follows a Mexican middle-class family that decided to move to the countryside, but the isolation will bring negative consequences to their relationship. The only thing that we have sure is that the early visit of the devil (in an animated form) certainly represents a bad omen, but after that, the film starts an odyssey through the inexplicable by presenting us apparently unrelated situations that I often find myself asking what the hell Reygadas was trying to say. “Post Tenebras Lux” is as much intriguing and captivating, as it is despicable and frustrating. Pretentious or not in its disjointed structure, I cannot deny that I was immerse in the story till the end, but can only recommend it for those who don’t mind to have something to decode in practically every scene. It just aims to our senses without worrying with any particular message or logic.

After Lucia (2012)

Directed by: Michel Franco
Country: Mexico / France

Review: “After Lucia” is an atmospheric drama that will not leave you indifferent. After his wife Lucia has died in a car accident, Roberto and his 17 year-old daughter Alejandra, decide to move from Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City in an attempt to rebuild their lives. Once they arrive, Roberto, visibly depressed, shows incapacity to work properly, while Alejandra seems to start getting along with her new friends at school, being invited to parties where drugs, alcohol, and sex, are pretty common. In one of those parties she has a sexual adventure with Jose who used his mobile phone to record everything. The posterior publication of that video on the Internet, makes Alejandra a victim of her colleagues’ atrocities, transforming her life forever. One or two aspects could have been improved, like Roberto showing some more impatience or concern after Alejandra’s disappearance, but Franco’s discernment and self-confident direction along with the absence of emotional tricks, made the tension grow consistently as the film approaches to the disturbing finale. The spontaneous acting from the cast in general also gave credibility to a story that guaranteed my complete involvement. Presenting a strong conception and execution, “After Lucia” exposes the horrors of bullying, the inconvenience of technology, and the blindness of revenge, all in the same package.

Miss Bala (2011)

Directed by: Gerardo Naranjo
Country: Mexico

Plot: The story of a young woman clinging on to her dream to become a beauty contest queen in a Mexico dominated by organized crime.

Quick comment: Reveals a smart plot within a clumsy style, where lots of betrayals take place, involving police, government and drug cartels. The title of the movie was inspired in a famous Mexican pageant named “Miss Baja California” which is a dream for many girls. The movie shows how easy it is for any innocent person to be tangled in the schemes of the corrupted mexican system. It's only a matter of being in the wrong place at wrong time.

Relevant Awards:

Alamar (2009)

Realizado por: Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio
País: Mexico

Natan é um miúdo de 5 anos, filho de Jorge - um nativo mexicano de raízes Mayan, e de Roberta - uma italiana. Após algum tempo de felicidade, os pais separam-se devido a divergências no modo de vida que pretendem. Jorge prefere uma vida descomplicada no meio do mato e vivendo da pesca, enquanto Roberta prefere meios urbanos, decidindo voltar para Roma com o filho. Antes disso, Natan fará uma última viagem, em jeito de despedida com o pai que dificilmente irá esquecer.
Apesar do filme não ter grande movimento, conta com personagens reais e é suficientemente honesto na sua abordagem.

Lake Tahoe (2008)

Realizado por: Fernando Eimbcke

País: Mexico

Fernando Eimbcke já tinha dado provas de talento no seu anterior trabalho "Temporada de Patos"(2004). Quatro anos depois regressa às longas-metragens da melhor maneira possível, onde cada plano é transformado numa autêntica obra-de-arte.

A um ritmo lento, conta-nos a aventura de um jovem numa estranha cidade mexicana, após o seu carro ter ficado imobilizado ao embater num poste telegráfico. O tempo que permanecerá na cidade e a viagem de regresso, vão fazer com que tome consciência dos motivos que o levaram a fugir de casa. Para quem gosta de filmes alternativos, este é um a não perder.

Sin Nombre (2009)

Realizado por: Cary Fukunaga

País: Mexico

Com um início promissor, muito forte visualmente e bem interpretado, cai no entanto na segunda metade para os "clichés" habituais neste género de filmes.

Apesar deste facto, não o deixo de recomendar, uma vez que retrata a realidade violenta dos gangs mexicanos e dos seus códigos de honra e rituais.

Prémios para a realização nos Festivais de Estocolmo e Sundance.