Such great promise that founders on the central character’s relentless awfulness.
Continue readingTag Archives: Mexico
Lost in the Night (Perdidos en la Noche)(2023)
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Amat Escalante’s Lost in the Night feels like an amalgam of Mexican films I have seen over the past few years.
Continue readingThe Box (La Caja) (2021)
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Lorenzo Vigas pares back dialogue and fills the frame with the vast expanses of Northern Mexico in this contemplative story of loss and separation.
Continue readingRobe of Gems (2022)
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I walked out of this film thinking “Beautiful. Profound. I have no idea what it’s about.”
Continue readingNew Order (Nuevo Orden) (2020)
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I wanted to like this confronting, dystopian thriller but it is so unrelentingly cynical and brutal that it felt it had nothing new to say.
Continue readingLa Civil (2021)
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Based on the real experiences of a woman seeking justice after her daughter is abducted by a Mexican cartel, Teodora Mihai’s first feature is not so much a revenge thriller as a portrait of indomitable strength amidst unimaginable tragedy.
Continue readingNudo Mixteco (2021)
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This stunning first feature by Ángeles Cruz interweaves the stories of three indigenous women across one festival day in a small village in the Cerro Nudo Mixteco mountainous region between Puebla and Oaxaca in Mexico.
Continue readingIdentifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares) (2019)
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It’s hard to believe that this compelling drama is the first feature directed by Fernanda Valadez. It is a beautifully constructed film that pulls you in by various threads into a story of mothers and sons, broken by a cruel society.
Continue readingRoma (2018)
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Image via http://www.lonelyplanet.com
The film that should have won the best picture Oscar, Alfonso Cuarón’s sublime meditation on the life of an indigenous maid in 1970s Mexico city is filmmaking at its best. Continue reading
Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven) (2017)
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Image via miff.com.au
Based on the real problem of children left vulnerable when their parents are captured or killed by Mexican drug cartels, Issa López’s horror take is cast primarily with child actors who do a decent job of carrying the story. Integrating fable-like elements and some competent special effects, the result is engaging although somewhat marred by sentimentality. Continue reading
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