Last weekend’s celebration of all things cultural in Mexico was a big success (2014 has now been announced) and the film programming presented a number of diverse and interesting offerings from the country.
The following are a handful of the screenings which we were lucky to be invited to.
Opening night film – The Girl
Debuting at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, US filmmaker David Riker’s look at the hazardous world of immigration proved to be a strong choice to open with. In the film, Abbie Cornish (convincingly) plays a white-trash single mother called Ashley. She lives an aimless life close to the Mexican border in San Antonio and is battling to regain custody of her young son after a DUI charge. Discovering her estranged father (Will Patton – grizzled as hell) is using his haulage wagon for other money-making purposes, she foolishly arranges for a group of Mexicans to be smuggled across the border. It’s safe to say things don’t go exactly as planned and she’s left, Mexican-side, with a young girl whose mother has disappeared following Ashley’s botched crossing.
From the broken, shantytown border environment, to the lush Mexican panorama which dominates the latter stages of the film, (post-screening, DP Martín Boege was on hand to talk about his fine work) The Girl has a strong sense of place and character. It also features a great central performance from Cornish, an actress who is yet to fully reach her potential, state-side. However, she is almost upstaged by newcomer Maritza Santiago Hernandez who displays a heartbreaking vulnerability as the young girl. The moral quandary Ashley finds herself in propels the narrative, but director Riker doesn’t paper over the hardship felt by those trying to escape to a better life, whatever dangers may occur in finding that.
[Rating:3.5/5]
Para Abrir Boca: A Gastronomic Tour
A wonderful, lo-fi culinary documentary, Para Abrir Boca looks at the vibrant and exciting world of Mexican cuisine. Exploring the cultivation, environment and sustainability of Mexican food, Sergio Yazbek’s short but engaging film has an ace up its sleeve in the form of British ex-pat turned “Indiana Jones of Mexican cooking” Diana Kennedy. This food author (now in her ninetieth year!) is a sprightly and spirited delight as she continues her quest to (seemingly) unearth and recreate every Mexican dish every conceived.
The traditional, often rudimentary, cooking techniques and preparation on display (some of which dates back to when the Spanish first arrived in Mexico) are fascinating to observe, and prove that the resulting dishes doesn’t need to be immaculately presented to be thoroughly enticing. The film itself may, technically, be a little rough around the edges at times, but it doesn’t stop it from being a must-see for anyone interested in world food.
[Rating:4/5]
What is this film called Love?
Pitched slightly different to the other offerings of the festival, Mark Cousins’ one-man mini odyssey around the streets of Mexico City (with a photo of soviet director Sergei Eisenstein for company) is an eccentric, and often very humorous, patchwork-like jaunt through the filmmaker’s psyche. Your enjoyment of a film like this may depend on your propensity for quirkiness, but Cousins’ dream-like, stream of consciousness tour of his mind is imbued with a lovely, simple lyricism.
Strictly speaking, the film isn’t really about Mexico, as the filmmaker pulls in footage from his other travels of the past few years. There are some really nice moments of almost spontaneous magic realism, which he also managed to successfully pull off with his previous feature, 2009’s The First Movie. Given his skills at coaxing emotion and meaning out of a jumble of material, it would be interested to see him now take a crack at narrative film. What is this film called Love? Has been doing the rounds at various cinemas across the country. If it comes your way, it’s definitely worth checking out.
[Rating:4/5]
Love, Pain and Vice Versa
This twisty little romantic thriller actually dates back to 2008, and director Alfonso Pineda Ulloa (who was in attendance) has since gone out to make the Paul Schrader-scripted, Tim Roth-headlining, The Jesuit. It’s an absorbing, if at times clichéd, Hitchcockian tale of desire and jealously, in which a stunning-looking architect (Bárbara Mori) is in love with a man who appears only in her dreams, until an incident brings him crashing into reality.
Like his homeland contemporary Alejandro González Iñárritu, Pineda Ulloa isn’t scared to let his narrative continually jump around and the disorientated nature of the film is one of its greatest assets. The real vs. dream world established adds some nice abstract moments, and even if the scenario is overly-familiar, the passionate, committed performances from the two leads (particularly Leonardo Sbaraglia as the object of the girl’s obsession) elevate the material from a standard potboiler to something much more engaging.
[Rating:3/5]
Closing film: Three Voices
Saving the best till last, three women from very different generations muse over their idea of love and togetherness. One is an apathetic teenager who has recently celebrated her quinceañera. A middle-aged divorcee discusses coming to terms with her new life and a 90-year-old (the great aunt of director Oltila Portillo Padua) reminiscing about her past romantic encounters.
Shot in a bold colours, inspired by Technicolor melodramas of the 40s and 50s, Three Voices is a moving (and, thanks to the eldest subject) often very humorous look at the lives of this diverse trio. Portillo Padua often shoots her women in unflinching close-ups, adding emotional resonance to the piece, and a shot of her infirmed great aunt trying (unsuccessfully) to button up her nightgown is incredibly poignant. But this isn’t a dour portrayal of love, and for the most part, there is hope and upbeat spirit throughout. A perfect film to end on, this touching observational documentary is a little gem.
[Rating:4/5]
