The Mexican Film Bulletin

The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
The
Mexican Film Bulletin
Volume 16 Number 1
January-February 2010
Rodas, writing under the pseudonym "X. Randa," and
directing a number of films, beginning with Indio (1971).
De Anda was married twice, to actresses Patricia
Conde and Mariagna Prats. He had three children:
Patricia, Christiane, and Rodolfo Jr. The latter entered the
family business, beginning an acting career at a young age,
and later becoming a producer.
Welcome!
Another year of MFB begins, our 16th! Articles,
reviews, and news about Mexican cinema. Many thanks to
all who read this, particularly those who have been with us
for lo! these many years. Despite the hectic pace of life,
we will attempt to maintain our bi-monthly schedule,
meaning six issues in 2010. Comments and suggestions
always welcome: dwilt@umd.edu
Jose Ortiz Ramos
Cinematographer José Ortiz Ramos died on 16
December 2009. Ortiz Ramos was born in Michoacán in
November 1911, and entered the film industry in the late
1930s as an assistant cameraman. He became a director of
photography in 1940, and eventually earned nearly 250
screen credits, retiring in the early 1990s.
Among the famous films featuring the photography of
Ortiz Ramos: Nosotros los pobres, Una familia de tantas,
Susana, Pulgarcito, Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro, El
barón del terror, La casta divina, and Los años de Greta.
He was nominated for four Best Photography Arieles: El
camino de la vida, La casta divina, Toña Machetes and El
Maleficio II.
Obituaries
Rodolfo de Anda
Rodolfo de Anda, an actor, director, screenwriter and
producer and a member of the prolific de Anda film
family, died of complications from diabetes on 1 February
2010. He had been hospitalised since the previous week,
suffering from high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems.
Ernesto Rodolfo de Anda Serrano was born on 3 July
1943, the son of Raúl
de Anda Gutiérrez.
The elder de Anda
was a popular actor,
specialising in roles
such as "El Charro
Negro," as well as a
film director and
producer. Rodolfo
made his screen debut
at two years of age in
Campeón sin corona, and continued to appear on screen in
small parts as an adolescent. His brothers--Raúl Jr.,
Agustín, Gilberto, and Antonio--all followed similar paths
into the Mexican film industry.
After the tragic death of his older brother Agustín in
1960, Rodolfo became the family's "on-screen" presence
(his father had retired from acting and his brothers mostly
worked behind the camera), even reprising his father's
most famous role as "El Charro Negro." Many of
Rodolfo's films in the 1960s and 1970s were Westerns,
rural dramas or rancheras, but he did occasionally appear
in contemporary dramas and comedies. De Anda
continued to act regularly in films and videohomes until
the mid-2000s. His final acting appearances were on the
TV series "El Pantera," produced by his son Rodolfo Jr.
Rodolfo de Anda added scripting, producing and
directing to his resumé, founding the production company
Blanca Sánchez
Actress Blanca Sánchez died of kidney and heart failure
on 7 January 2010; she was 63 years old. She had been
hospitalised for more than a month, and was scheduled for
a second kidney transplant, but was never deemed strong
enough to undergo the operation.
Blanca Aurora Sánchez de la
Fuente was born in March 1946;
her father was composer Luis
Sánchez Silva and her mother
was actress Ofelia de la Fuente.
Sánchez's brother Sergio also
became an actor.
Blanca Sánchez made her
professional debut at the age of 6
in a radionovela, and gained
fame later in the decade in
telenovelas. She also worked on
the stage, and--beginning in the
1960s--appeared in nearly 40
films and videohomes, most
recently Enemigos íntimos
(2008) and No eres tu, soy yo
(listed on IMDB as still "in production"). She is
remembered especially for her telenovela roles, such as
"Matilde" in the late-1960s version of "Chucho el Roto"
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The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
with Manuel López Ochoa (the TV show was so successful
that it was recreated in a four-film series).
Blanca Sánchez was married three times, to director
Roberto Schlosser (the father of her daughter Valeria), to
businessman Garret J. Woodside, and--for 16 years--to
auto racer José Antonio Massad, who died in 2005.
Reviews
El estudiante [The Student] (Halo Studio, ©2009)
Exec Prod: Roberto Girault, Gastón Pavlovich; Prod:
Víctor Núñez, Ricardo Ferrer; Dir-Scr: Roberto Girault;
Story: Gastón Pavlovich; Photo: Gonzalo Amat; Music:
Juan Manuel Langarica; Film Ed: Ariana Villegas, Roberto
Girault; Art Dir: Daniel Tapia
Cast: Jorge Lavat (Chano), Norma Lazareno (Alicia),
José Carlos Ruiz (don Pedro), Cristina Obregón (Carmen),
Pablo Cruz Guerrero (Santiago), Suzanna Melikian
(Alejandra), Jorge Luis Moreno (Marcelo), Cuauhtémoc
Duque (Eduardo), Daniel Martínez (Héctor, professor),
Jeannine Derbez (Sofía), Silvia Santiago (Lucía), Raúl
Adalid (Jorge), Sofía Toache (Matilde), Fernando Estrada
(Álvaro)
Notes: it's easy to see why El estudiante was the most
successful live-action Mexican film at the box-office in
2009 (and very popular on DVD as well)--it's a "feel good"
movie (though I defy anyone to not cry a little at various
times) about life, love, culture (popular and high), and
family (and "family values"). I was somewhat shocked to
read lukewarm (if not outright negative) reviews in the
Mexican press (and the user comments on IMDB include
some virulent attacks): the film is criticised as
manipulative, poorly written and acted, melodramatic,
"unreal," and so forth.
These criticisms may be (partially) true, but a great
deal depends
upon one's point
of view. El
estudiante isn't
meant to be a
real-life exposé
of university
student life in
Guanajuato, and
thus the
sanitised image
of young
people--nobody
drinks or
smokes or
curses (there's a
hint of drug use)
or has premarital sex
(except one
person...)-shouldn't be seen as a flaw, but rather a conscious decision
on the filmmakers' part. Yes, the movie manipulates your
emotions, but isn't that what films do? Of course the
movie is melodramatic and certain plot developments are
telegraphed miles in advance. Yes, the dialogue is
sometimes too florid or literary, but since a crucial
component of the film is appreciation of "Don Quijote de
la Mancha" by Miguel de Cervantes, a bit of declamation
on the part of the characters can be excused.
Gene Barry
Gene Barry, perhaps best-known as television's "Bat
Masterson," died on 9 December 2009. Born Eugene
Klass in New York City on 14 June 1919, Barry got his
start as a singer
on the stage and
radio in the
1930s, moved to
Broadway in the
1940s, and made
his screen debut
in 1952. From
1958-61 he was
"Bat Masterson"
on television, and
later starred in
popular series like "Burke's Law" and "The Name of the
Game."
In 1979, Barry played "Lee O'Brien" (a slightlydisguised version of congressman Leo Ryan) in René
Cardona Jr.'s Guyana--el crimen del siglo (aka Guyana,
Cult of the Damned).
Gene Barry was married to Betty Barry for 59 years,
until her death in 2003. They had two sons and later
adopted a daughter.
Mexican Cinema in 2009:
BoxBox-office Report
According to www.boxofficemojo.com, 275 feature
films were released in Mexico in 2009, 24 of which were
Mexican (or co-productions). The top-grossing Mexican
film of the year was the animated Otra película de huevos
y un pollo, in 16th place (this is a sequel to Una película
de huevos, which was the top-grossing Mexican movie of
2006). Six other Mexican movies made the top 100,
including two more cartoon films (in fact, 4 of the top 10
box-office winners overall were animated--Ice Age: Dawn
of the Dinosaurs, Avatar, Up, and Monsters vs. Aliens):
48. El estudiante
54. A propósito de Alexa
56. Amar a morir (Mex-Col)
79. Paradas continuas
86. Agente 00-P2 (anim.)
93. Nikté (anim.)
Other titles of interest include Carlos Carrera's El
traspatio (aka Backyard, #112), Fernando Sariñana's
Enemigos íntimos (#129), El brassier de Emma (dir. by
Marisa Sistach, #214), Desierto adentro (dir. by Rodrigo
Plá, #223, which won 8 prizes at the 2009 Ariel Awards),
and Arturo Ripstein's El carnaval de Sodoma (#271).
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Personally, I had no problem with the acting or the
direction: overall, I felt the performances were satisfactory.
Jorge Lavat, Norma Lazareno and José Carlos Ruiz are old
pros and deliver polished performances, while the younger
players are attractive and competent, if not especially
distinctive (Suzanna Melikian, when she wears her glasses,
is a dead ringer for Tina Fey though).
As far as the script is concerned, I slightly agree with
the IMDB commenter who felt there were perhaps too
many simultaneous sub-plots, large and small, and I also
felt the flashback structure of film was a bit confusing
(apparently Chano's opening voiceover narration is
supposed to be from a letter he wrote to the other students,
which they are shown reading in the final scene?).
Overall, however, I was enchanted and moved by this
film. Perhaps, as a person approaching la tercer edad
myself (and yet one who's interacted daily with young
people for more than 30 years as part of my job), I
empathised with the protagonist and envied his "two lives"
(patriarch of a family and advisor to a group of young
people). I cannot fault the filmmakers for promoting the
movie effectively--and honestly, if the film had not
touched a particular emotional chord, no amount of
ballyhoo would have made it successful at the box-office,
particularly in light of the negative critical reviews.
The retired Chano decides to fulfill a life-long dream
and study literature at the University of Guanajuato, over
also teaches them how to "become" the characters they are
portraying (exactly where he got his drama-coach
experience is not explained). Chano also introduces
musician Marcelo to "classical" music--José Alfredo
Jiménez and Agustín Lara.
In a nicely-conceived and executed series of intercut
scenes, Marcelo (dressed in a charro outfit and tennis
shoes!) and some mariachis serenade Alejandra while
Santiago and Carmen make out on a sofa elsewhere.
Neither encounter ends well: Alejandra has discovered she
is pregnant (she's having an affair with Héctor) and doesn't
turn on her light or come to the window (signs Marcelo's
serenade--and thus, his offer of romance--is not welcome),
while Carmen refuses to "go all the way" with Santiago.
The next day, the two male students complain to Chano
and he berates them: "They aren't viejas, they're women,
and to you, they're ladies...We're guardians of their beauty
and not exploiters of their pleasures!"
After Alejandra, in the private 'acting workshop" she
shares with her friends, admits "I wish I didn't have to
make decisions. I wish I wasn't in this situation. I wish I
wasn't pregnant," Chano goes to Héctor's office and slaps
the professor (who had earlier been brusque with
Alejandra, showing her his wedding ring and a photo of
himself with his wife and child). Eduardo, meanwhile, hits
a drug dealer and is badly beaten. [This is one of the
extraneous sub-plots I mentioned before. Eduardo is the
fifth wheel of the young people, and is portrayed as a
stoner, but peripherally. Honestly, his role could have
been cut entirely and nothing would have been lost.]
Alicia tells Chano if he wants to help his friends, he
has to "show them how to care." The young people visit a
retirement home where Alicia and Chano volunteer their
time, and Alicia takes the opportunity to advise Alejandra
not to have an abortion (she'd made a phone inquiry about
it earlier): "If you let this illusion be born, you'll know a
new face of love." Later, Marcelo returns to serenade
Alejandra and this time she confronts him. "You don't
know me, Marcelo," she says, but when he rattles off a list
of things he does know about her, and offers his love and
support unconditionally, she relents. Also, Santiago
becomes a mime (!) and reconciles with Carmen. [This
isn't as bizarre as it seems--though it is a little weird--since
early in the movie Carmen told Santiago mimes could
communicate with actions, not words. Also, a mime had
appeared in an earlier scene, trying to console Alejandra.]
the objections of one of his daughters (the other is
supportive) and his wife Alicia, who says "Why can't we
live out our final years peacefully?" At first he feels odd
and isolated--the film effectively portrays the dichotomy
between his role as head of a loving, extended family, and
his "fish out of water" status at uni--but eventually he's
accepted by his classmates, including Santiago, Carmen,
Alejandra, Marcelo, and Eduardo. Marcelo falls in love
with Alejandra, while Santiago and Carmen form a couple.
The students realise Chano has a deep appreciation of
literature and also has life experiences he can impart to
them (in return, he learns how to use an iPod). The
students sign up to appear in a stage version of "Don
Quijote" (in an amusing bit, Carmen and Alejandra sign
up, which inspires Santiago and Marcelo to enroll as well),
but Chano is dissuaded from auditioning by professor
Héctor, who says he's too old. Nonetheless, when his
friends explain the play "isn't working," Chano not only
inculcates in them a deeper understanding of Cervantes (by
having them read passages aloud to random passersby), he
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Mexican period, and--for fans of the cine nacional--the
cast is packed with familiar faces (perhaps too familiar for
some critics; García Riera found some of the actors
"inadequate").
Silvia Pinal, despite receiving top billing (and being
the producer's wife!), is merely one member of an
ensemble cast, and not an especially prominent one at that
(although she does "solve" the mystery at the end). It's
amusing to spot Jacqueline Andere (pre-nosejob, it seems),
Janet Alcoriza (the wife of Luis Alcoriza), and even--in an
unbilled bit in the final sequence-- Rita Macedo, who was
apparently originally cast as Lucía, but was for some
reason replaced by Lucy Gallardo (wife of Enrique
Rambal in real life).
However, tragedy strikes when Alicia dies in her
sleep. Chano drops out of school but letters from his
friends and Alicia's inscription in his edition of "Don
Quijote" inspire him to return, just as Alejandra is giving
the commencement address. Afterwards, he sees her baby,
named....Alicia (mawww....).
Not a work of cinematic art, nor will it make anyone's
Top Ten list of notable Mexican films (it got no Ariel
nominations), but despite its flaws--and what film doesn't
have any?--El estudiante is a likeable, crowd-pleasing
movie. And for once, I'm part of the crowd.
El ángel
exterminador [The
Exterminating Angel]
(Gustavo Alatriste, 1962)
Prod: Gustavo Alatriste;
Dir-Scr/Dialog: Luis
Buñuel; Screen Story: Luis
Alcoriza, Luis Buñuel;
Photo: Gabriel Figueroa;
Music Dir: Raúl Lavista;
Prod Mgr: Antonio de
Salazar; Prod Chief: Fidel
Pizarro; Asst Dir: Ignacio
Villareal; Film Ed: Carlos Savage Jr.; Art Dir: Jesús
Bracho; Camera Op: Manuel González; Lighting: Daniel
López; Makeup: Armando Meyer; Sound Supv: James L.
Fields; Sound Engin: José B. Carles; Music/Re-rec:
Galdino Samperio; Union: STPC
Cast: Silvia Pinal (Leticia, "La Walkiria"), Jacqueline
Andere (Alicia de Roc), José Baviera (Leandro Gómez),
Augusto Benedico (Dr. Carlos Conde), Luis Beristaín
(Cristián Ugalde), Antonio Bravo (Sergio Russel), Claudio
Brook (Julio, majordomo), César del Campo (Col. Álvaro),
Rosa Elena Durgel (Silvia), Lucy Gallardo (Lucía de
Nobile), Enrique García Álvarez (Alberto Roc), Ofelia
Guilmaín (Juana Ávila), Nadia Haro Oliva (Ana Maynar),
Tito Junco (Raúl), Xavier Loyá (Francisco Ávila), Xavier
Massé (Eduardo), Ofelia Montesco (Beatriz), Patricia
Moran (Rita Ugalde), Patricia de Morelos (Blanca), Bertha
Moss (Leonora), Enrique Rambal (Edmundo Nobile),
Pancho Córdova (military officer), Ángel Merino
(servant), Luis Lomelí, Guillermo A. Bianchi (Pablo,
cook), Arturo Cobo (butler), Elodia Hernández (Camila,
servant), Florencio Castelló (servant), Eric del Castillo,
Chel López (priest), David Hayyad Cohen, Janet Alcoriza
(maid), Enrique del Castillo (abbot), Jesús Gómez
(policeman), Rita Macedo (woman in church = Lucía de
Nobile), Roberto Meyer and Mirón Levine (men on street),
Fernando Yapur (policeman)
Notes: since I decided to show this in my "History of
World Cinema" course (replacing last year's Belle de
Jour), I had the chance to revisit El ángel exterminador
after many years. Aside from the short feature Simón del
desierto, this was Buñuel's final "Mexican" film, although
he'd been internationalising his career since the mid-1950s.
El ángel exterminador is something of a swan song for his
[I also find it amusing to note that Ángel was filmed at
the Churubusco studios in March 1962, two months after
Santo vs. las mujeres vampiros was made there. Some of
the technical staff are the same, and at least three actors-Benedico, Loyá, Montesco--had significant roles in both
movies. Mexican cinema was (and remains) a small
world.]
Most film fans have at least a general idea of the plot
of Ángel: Edmundo Nobile and his wife Lucía host a lavish
dinner party at their mansion after a night at the opera.
The guests are a cross-section of upper-class society.
Strangely, all of Nobile's servants desert the house before
the dinner is over, with the exception of major-domo Julio.
The evening grows late, and yet, no one leaves. There's no
discussion, but no one makes the slightest move to depart-or even leave the large living room--and eventually
everyone settles down to sleep on the sofas, chairs, and the
floor.
Time passes. All of the left-over food has been
consumed and the trapped people smash a hole in the wall
so they can breach a pipe to obtain drinking water. Several
of the guests are ill and one of them, Russel, dies. Eduardo
and Beatriz, engaged to be married, sleep together in one
of the room's closets, then commit suicide. Things get
nasty as some people blame Nobile for "luring" them to his
mansion in the first place.
Meanwhile, a crowd has gathered outside. If those
inside are trapped, no one else can get in, either. The
house is placed under "quarantine."
Finally, one of the women--the "savage and virginal"
Leticia, nicknamed "The Valkyrie"--has an inspiration.
Everyone is in exactly the same position as the first
evening when the mysterious "force" struck, trapping them
(blatantly incorrect, since three people are dead and the
room itself is a shambles), so she has the guests recreate
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same way, and remains at his post. He's the last person to
be trapped in the living room, bringing the after-dinner
coffee and then finding himself unable to exit. Everyone
else is a member of the bourgeois (or better), including a
doctor, military officer, orchestra conductor, businessman,
etc. There is some overt discussion of class--one woman
says the lower classes don't feel pain as the upper classes
do, and compares them to a wounded bull, "impassive" to
pain; another woman reminisces about a train wreck in
France which crushed a lower-class car "like an
accordion," then says she was more moved by the death of
a prince she knew, seeing him lying in state with "his
noble profile." Edmundo complains he has hated rudeness,
violence and filth since he was a boy, but now he's
surrounded by it.
However, most of the time Buñuel demonstrates his
social criticism by having the characters act in unpleasant
ways. Edmundo's wife is having an affair with Álvaro;
Cristián's wife is pregnant, but he isn't sure he's the father
(and doesn't seem to care); Alberto Roc is a lecher (he
sneaks around groping the sleeping women guests) married
to a much younger woman; Juana Ávila seems to have an
unnatural relationship with her brother; Leticia is allegedly
a virgin, which is considered a "perversion" by another
guest; Edmundo and his wife apparently have very odd
parties where drugs are used (and at this dinner party, a
bear and live sheep were going to provide
"entertainment?"). Even before they're trapped together
and the façade of civilisation slips, the guests are rude to
each other, making petty remarks and gossiping. After a
few days, they're reduced to filthy rags, killing and eating
the sheep that wander in, smashing furniture and objects of
"culture" (such as a cello) to make a fire, nearly coming to
blows, and so on. In one telling bit, Raúl finds a small box
with pills Cristián needs for a medical condition; rather
than hand it over to someone he dislikes, Raúl tosses it
through the archway into the dining room, beyond
Cristián's reach.
Despite their perilous situation, the group finds it
almost impossible to cooperate (they do take turns
smashing
through a
wall to
reach the
pipe, but
when the
water
begins to
flow, they
scuffle for
access to
it). Only at
the end, under Leticia's direction, do they work as a group
to recreate their first night and thus escape from the house.
(Then are trapped again in the church--presumably the
brief moment of grace they earned has expired, and their
willing submission to organised religion marks them for
more punishment!)
El ángel exterminador has very little "plot" and a
negligible "narrative," but is rich with detail and ideas.
the final moments of the party and voila! they are able to
calmly stride out into the sunshine.
Later, in gratitude, Edmundo and most of the others
attend a celebratory Mass. But when the Mass is over, no
one can leave the church....a small flock of sheep
approaches the building, bleating, and the police chase off
a curious crowd at gunpoint. The End?
The term most frequently used to describe El ángel
exterminador is "surreal," and while many people might
equate this with fantastic dream sequences a la Salvador
Dali (think of Hitchcock's Spellbound and Vertigo)--and
Ángel does include one such scene (plus a hallucination of
a crawling hand)--the surrealistic nature of Buñuel's movie
applies to the "realistic" scenes as well. None of the
characters even comment on such unusual things as: a bear
and sheep as "entertainment" for a dinner party; a woman
with chicken feet in her purse; husbands and wives who
are openly unfaithful to each other; a couple who commit
suicide; a closet full of large Oriental vases used as a toilet;
and so on and so forth. The dialogue contains some
strange non sequiturs. Dr. Conde says "in a few hours,
he'll be completely bald...I mean, he'll be dead." When a
window breaks, Leandro casually attributes it to "some
passing Jew."
There are also several "repeated" scenes: Buñuel
claims there are about 20 repetitions, but two are most
noticeable--the arrival of the guests and Edmundo's toast.
The first passes without comment (I thought it was a
problem with the print of the film the first time I saw it,
apparently a common reaction by viewers) but Edmundo
himself has a puzzled look when he finds himself repeating
his brief speech at dinner.
El ángel exterminador stops short of complete
outrageousness: Buñuel later said he was worried about the
censors, so he couldn't show the dinner guests reduced to
cannibalism and murder. However, there are still
numerous mildly shocking aspects, including fairly frank
talk of sex (Alicia remarks that her much older husband is
still sexually vigorous), infidelity, implied incest, drug use
(Edmundo has a small box full of drugs used for "parties"),
religion and such (references to Catholicism and the Pope,
the Kabbalah, Masonic rituals), and of course, social
stratification.
The central "point" of El ángel exterminador does seem
to be its examination of social class. The servants abandon
the mansion hurriedly, but don't know why they are doing
so. Only Julio, the highest-ranking servant, doesn't feel the
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Buñuel, years later in an interview, "explained" his general
interpretation of the film as a metaphor for the inability of
human beings to cooperate for the greater good. This is at
best only a partial analysis, but then again, surrealism--or
even dadaism, which Ángel approaches at times--does not
necessarily lend itself to easy interpretation (or, one might
say, to a single, "correct" interpretation).
Despite Garcia Riera's misgivings, the acting in El
ángel exterminador is generally satisfactory, within the
norms of Mexican cinema of the day. Which is to say, a
style somewhat
more florid than
naturalistic. One
of the major
problems I have
--and it isn't a
reflection on the
performers'
talent--is the
physical
similiarity
between some of
the actresses (de Morelos, Durgel, Haro Oliva, Pinal), so
much so that at times it's difficult to keep their characters
straight. Otherwise, no one turns in a truly bad
performance and no one is really miscast, though Andere
seems ill at ease, Tito Junco is a bit too overbearing, and
Silvia Pinal is given little or no personality.
The production values are fine, despite Buñuel's famous
complaint about having only one fancy dinner napkin,
which had to be "shared" by each performer in his/her
closeup. Most of the action occurs in the main living room
of the mansion, but the other rooms and the location
shooting are perfectly satisfactory. Gabriel Figueroa, bestknown for his signature "silhouetted figures against the
sky" shots, is restricted to interiors but he and Buñuel work
well together and Ángel never seems stagey or static.
Considered one of Buñuel's finer works, El ángel
exterminador is a clever puzzle of a film which probably
has no "correct" solution.
Dunhill, Guillermo Ayala , Marileen Kaey [aka Marilyn
Kay?], Patricia Borges, Luis Ruvalcaba, Leticia Ochoa,
Manuel Moreno, Miguel Lara
Mexico City release: May 1976; 4 week run;
Authorization: A
NOTES:
Opinion is
sharply divided
on this film, with
some giving it
low marks and
others
considering it
interesting and
fairly well done
within its
limitations. I
tend to fall into
the second
category,
although I will
acknowledge
that Santo vs. las
lobas has its
weak points. It is
possible that some of these resulted from the
circumstances of the production. The fact that there are
two credited directors and cinematographers, along with
some continuity problems, suggest the two parts of the
film--the "Pons" section and the "Harker" sections--were
made by different crews at different times.
Though I have no proof to back up my conjectures, I
believe it's possible the "Harker" section was written by
Ramón Obón, photographed by Raúl Domínguez and
directed by Rubén Galindo, and was intended to be the
"main" film, but for some reason producer Jiménez Pons
shot additional footage--written and directed by himself,
photographed by Víctor Gaitán and featuring Federico
Falcón as detective "Jaime Pons"--to pad out the running
time.
Jaime Jiménez Pons--who had been a child actor
nicknamed "Frijolito"--produced a number of films around
this time that seem to have been made on the fringe of the
industry, perhaps intended as TV pilots. These include
Acapulco 12-22 (1971), Anónimo mortal, La maffia
amarilla, and Noche de muerte (1972). Several of these
were reportedly shot on 16mm and later blown up to
35mm for theatrical release (which didn't come until 197576), a tip-off that TV was their original destination.
Nonetheless, Santo vs. las lobas has a lot to
recommend it, and it makes a sincere effort to establish an
atmosphere conducive to a horror film, especially in the
opening sequence. Later in the film, a meeting of the
werewolves with their "king" is also staged and shot in an
interesting manner. Even the low budget isn't that obvious:
for example, while the film isn't as bright and (relatively)
glossy as the Santo pictures made at the same time in the
studio system, it does feature a decent number of extras,
and some scenes are considerably more elaborate and busy
than one would expect, notably the scene where the
Santo vs. las lobas [Santo vs. the She
Wolves] (Estudios Jiménez Pons Hermanos, 1972) Exec
Prod: Jaime Jiménez Pons; Dir: Jaime Jiménez Pons,
Rubén Galindo; Scr: Ramón Obón, Jaime Jiménez Pons;
Photo: Raúl Domínguez, Víctor Gaitán; Prod Mgr: Héctor
Luna; Asst Dir: Javier Durán; Film Ed: no credit; Asst
Camera: Armando Castillón, Rafael Chávez, Carlos
Cuenca; Makeup: Irene Bustos, Antonio Ramírez; Sound:
Francisco Guerrero, Eduardo Arjona; Union: STIC
CAST: Santo (Santo), Rodolfo de Anda (César Harker;
Eric Harker), Gloria Mayo (Adriana), Jorge Rusek [sic]
(Licán), Federico Falcón (Jaime Pons), Erika Carlson [sic]
(young Luba), Nubia Marti (Eloísa), Carlos Suárez
(Gitano), Rosa Furman (Ana), Bruno Rey (Capt. Pacheco),
Tamara Garina (old Luba), Carlos Jordán (Dr. Jeremías
Marcus), Emilia Carranza (Julieta), Roberto Meyer
(Matías, stationmaster), Nora Wolf, Silvia Mowat, Marga
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The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
In his apartment, Santo is surprised when a wolf jumps
out of the closet (a nice shock scene), but it promptly
disappears. He decides to follow up on the Harker
connection. The next day, he meets César Harker at a hotel
outside the city. As they speak, a young woman swimmer
cries for help from the pool. César leaps in to save her, but
she tries to drown him, so Santo has to jump in and knock
her out. They drag her out of the pool, but she disappears
when their backs are turned. Harker tells Santo that his
family has battled the werewolf race for generations, but it
is foretold than only a "silver symbol" can destroy them for
good, and that means Santo.
Santo agrees to help, but first he has to participate in
another wrestling match. While this is going on, César is
slain by werewolf Luba on his hacienda. His workers
pursue the wounded werewolf woman, and retrieve her
body when she finally drops dead. Gypsy Ana tells Julieta,
a neighbor of the Harkers, that the queen of the
werewolves is dead; Julieta orders her daughters Adriana
and Eloísa locked up.
Santo takes a train to the town near the Harker
hacienda. The stationmaster shows him a big box that
recently arrived from Transylvania--it has no delivery
address. Later that night, a band of werewolves steals the
box from the station. They open it at a ceremony, revealing
Licán, King of the Werewolves. He says the first order of
business is to choose a new queen.
In a very strange scene, Santo and Gitano--the servant
of Dr. Marcus, brother of Julieta--are chased away by the
villagers for asking too many questions. The odd thing-aside from seeing people throw stones and shoot at El
Santo!--is that there was no scene in which Gitano and
Santo are introduced, and in fact Santo does not even meet
Marcus until the following sequence of César's funeral.
[This is one of the aforementioned continuity problems.]
Present at the funeral are Eric Harker (César's twin
brother), Dr. Marcus, Adriana, and Eloísa (Eric's fiancee).
Eloísa tells Eric that she thinks she's a werewolf, since she
werewolves attack a station wagon full of children trying
to flee the hacienda, and a werewolf-plagued dinner party.
The werewolf makeup varies: some performers have
disheveled hair and look more like cavemen and women
than werewolves, while others have a lot of facial hair and
fangs, but not much body hair (the female werewolves
wear fur bikinis, the male werewolves are bare-chested).
Jorge Russek's makeup as Licán, king of the werewolves,
is more extensive and detailed than most of the others.
As the film opens, a young blonde woman is drawn to
an abandoned warehouse by a disembodied voice saying
"Come...come..." She is confronted by a hairy old woman,
who says she is Luba, queen of the werewolves. It is time
for her to be reborn in a new body; then the werewolves
("licántropos") will destroy the human race and rule the
earth. The blonde stabs old Luba and becomes queen; she
is carried around joyfully by her subjects.
There is a nice matched cut from a werewolf howling
over the body of old Luba to a screaming crowd watching
Santo wrestle. After the match, the young Luba visits his
dressing room,
claiming she's a
big fan and
would "like to
get to know him
better" (wink,
wink). Santo
puts her off, and
then gets another
visitor: detective
Jaime Pons, who
says he was hired by the Harker family to contact him,
concerning werewolves. Santo is dubious, but he accepts
an envelope from Pons with instructions about meeting
César Harker.
Later, as Santo starts to leave the darkened arena, he
is pursued by several "wolves" (German shepherds, and in
fact he refers to them as "dogs" himself). After a brief
battle in the ring, Santo leaps up and hangs onto the light
fixture, shouting for help! (This is shocking--Santo can't
defeat two
wolves?) When
the arena
security guards
arrive, the
wolves are
gone, and the
guards think
Santo has
maybe taken a
few too many
kicks to the
head in his career.
Meanwhile, Pons, on his way back to his hotel, is
hailed by the bloody Luba, who claims she was attacked
by werewolves. They go back to his room and he gives her
a drink. However, as they start to get "better acquainted,"
Luba turns into a werewolf (growing a blonde beard and
fangs), chases Pons around, and eventually kills him.
"remembers" the death of the stationmaster when the box
was stolen. Meanwhile, Marcus informs the local police
chief (Bruno Rey, who shows up and then disappears for
the rest of the film) that the werewolf woman who killed
César had been dead for a month.
Licán visits Marcus, claiming that he is a scientist
studying evolution. He invites everyone to a dinner party
at his house; Marcus declines, but Santo, Eric, Gitano,
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The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
Adriana, and Eloísa go. The party seems friendly, but after
a while some of the guests turn into werewolves and attack
everyone else! The protagonists make their escape. Back at
the Marcus residence, Santo finds Marcus half-changed
into a werewolf. He says his family is cursed, but he's a
good werewolf. Santo--who has "werewolf blood"--will
also change into a werewolf (according to Marcus) if he
doesn't destroy Licán by the night of the Great Red Moon
(which just happens to be the next night).
They prepare for an assault by the werewolves,
handing out rifles to the workers (Santo reminds them to
use silver bullets--sure, everybody's got a box of those in
their house). They try to send the children away in a
station wagon driven by Adriana, with Gitano riding
shotgun, but the werewolves ambush the car with big rocks
and flaming bundles of brush, forcing them back to the
hacienda.
That night, the werewolves attack. Julieta turns into a
werewolf and threatens Adriana and Eloísa, but Santo
intervenes and kills her with a bodyslam. Santo: "She was
the queen of the werewolves." He then takes off after the
king, Licán, who runs a long way until Santo finally
catches him and throws him off a cliff, just as the sun rises.
The End.
One interesting trivia note about Santo vs. las lobas are
the similarities between its plot and characters and those of
La loba (1964). Both films concern a family's werewolf
"curse" (with one of two sisters turning into a monster),
feature multiple werewolves of both sexes, and both
include a brawny "gypsy" family retainer (Crox Alvarado
as "Kumba" in the earlier movie, Carlos Suárez as
"Gitano" here). These can be attributed to the fact that
Ramón Obón scripted both films (with the assistance of
Jaime Jiménez Pons for Santo vs. las lobas).
Cast: Rodolfo de Anda (Insp. Frank Salazar), Jorge
Luke (Capt. Miguel Pardo), Armando Silvestre (don
Bruno), Edna Bolkan (Frances Mathews), Gilberto Román
(Giacomo Frade), Edgardo Gazcón (Joe Galindo), Arturo
Martínez Jr. (Santana), Juan Ignacio Aranda (David
Salazar), Humberto Elizondo (pilot), Rojo Grau
(mechanic), Nicolás Saad, Alfonso Arnold, Theresa King,
"María ...", Alberto Islas, Andrés Boris, Mauricio Tellez,
Bernabe Meléndez [sic] (Rocco), Armando García, Abel
Casillas
Notes: this action film has some points of interest, but
it is rather slowly paced and padded with far too much
extraneous footage, especially of the events surrounding
the Baja International desert road race. Clearly, the
filmmakers thought this would make good "local color,"
but the plot has only a minimal connection with the race
and scenes of people walking around looking at exhibits of
car parts don't make for compelling cinema.
What is interesting about Narcotráfico is its depiction
of Mexican-U.S. cooperation in the war on drugs. In fact,
after a fairly brief opening sequence in Mexico, the whole
first part of the movie takes place in Southern California
and highlights the actions of FBI agents Joe Galindo and
David Salazar. The rest of the movie splits the heroics
between Inspector Frank Salazar of the FBI and Mexican
drug cop Miguel Pardo, even though the action takes place
in Mexico. There is a running joke between Galindo and
David Salazar--they call each other "mariachi" and when
Galindo speaks in Spanish, Salazar always says "What?
What did you say?" in English (in fact, there is a fair
amount of English used on the soundtrack, with de Anda,
Luke, Román and Bolkan all speaking it from time to
time). There are no anti-gringo stereotypes (perhaps
because the "FBI" agents all have Latino last names) and
in fact the villains are clearly identified as mafiosos of
Italian descent.
As the picture begins, a light plane takes off from a
clandestine airfield in Mexico, just ahead of drug agents
led by Captain Miguel Pardo. Pardo notifies his U.S.
liaison, Frank Salazar of the FBI, and agents are waiting at
the ranch where the plane is to land. However, the
suspicious pilot first lands in the desert in Baja California,
depositing his cargo (a metal suitcase full of heroin) in a
clump of brush, and when he lands in the USA he is
"clean." FBI agents Joe Galindo and David Salazar
(Frank's younger brother) trail the pilot to his house, where
they see him confronted by gangster Frade and another
thug. The pilot is killed by Frade, after he reveals the
location of the heroin; a gun battle ensues, and Frade
escapes, after fatally shooting Galindo and badly
wounding Salazar.
Salazar is taken to the hospital; although he overheard
the information about the drugs, he is unable to talk before
he enters the operating room. Later, a Mafia hit-man uses
a sniper rifle to explode an oxygen tank in Salazar's
hospital room, killing him.
Don Bruno, the mafioso in charge of the drug deal,
orders Frade to recover the drugs by entering the Baja
International road race, which will pass right by the desert
cache. Frade and his girlfriend Frances travel to Ensenada
Narcotráfico (Sentencia de muerte)* [Narcotics
Trafficking--Death Sentence] (Cinevisión-JAFTA II,
1985) Prod-Dir:
Raúl de Anda Jr.;
Assoc Prod: Luis
Cordero, Agustín
Terrazas; Scr: Raúl
de Anda Jr.,
Gilberto de Anda;
Photo: Fernando
Colín; Music: Marco
Flores; Prod Mgr:
Ricardo Martínez;
Prod Co-ord: José
L. Murillo; Asst Dir:
Carlos Durán; Film
Ed: Ángel
Camacho; Decor:
Raúl Cárdenas;
Camera Op:
Guillermo Bravo; Makeup: Angelina Chagoya; Sound Op:
Roberto Muñoz; Re-rec: Ricardo Saldívar; Stunt Co-ord:
Gerardo Soublette; Union: STIC
*aka Narcotraficante [Narcotics Trafficker]
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The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
and he poses as a wealthy racer. Frank Salazar and Miguel
Pardo trail him there, and also prepare to enter the event.
However, Frank's cover is blown and Frances slips him an
overdose of heroin in a drink, nearly killing him. Miguel
forces the gangster's girlfriend to talk: she says Miguel is
just a decoy, the drugs will be picked up by another racer.
When the
race begins,
Miguel takes
Frank's spot as
driver. He and
Frade are both
ambushed by an
assassin along
the way; Frade is
killed, but
Salazar--who left
the hospital and
commandeered a helicopter--shoots the killer and saves
Miguel. They force Frances to take them to don Bruno's
yacht, where the drugs are recovered and the smuggling
ring is broken up.
Although the film is not paced very well (as
mentioned above), otherwise Narcotráfico is reasonably
entertaining, with a fair amount of character development
given to most the characters, including Frade, Frances,
Frank and David Salazar, Miguel, etc. The action
sequences are satisfactory but not outstanding. The picture
includes several scenes of nudity (Bruno's girlfriend seen
sun-bathing topless on his yacht, a stripper in a bar) which
seem irrelevant and forced.
A routine action picture, fairly slick and professional
but nothing special.
then), there is relatively little nudity, and the humor is
extremely mild. What starts out as a sort of precursor of
Asesino en serio never develops any momentum and ends
with a feeble excuse for comedy (a food fight, what a
novelty!).
A young man visits a brothel to lose his virginity, and
hires eight prostitutes at once. Soon, police detectives
Adán and Pedro are called to the scene: two of the women
are found dead (with huge smiles on their faces). The
killer says he doesn't know what happened: until recently,
women were never attracted to him, but he was a patient at
the "Pecado original" clinic for sexual problems, and has
suddenly turned into a (literal) lady-killer.
Adán and Pedro are assigned to investigate the clinic,
undercover. Adán pretends to be impotent, and Pedro is
instructed to feign homosexuality. Other clients at the
clinic--run by Dr. Eva Balbuena and her assistant Elena-include elderly lawyer Rosas, Juan and his ex-wife
Jacaranda (unbeknowst to each other), rape victim
Michelle, and sex maniac Arthur.
Adán and Pedro's mission is uncovered. An old
woman is "rejuvenated" and instructed to kill "Santa
Claus" during a costume ball at the clinic (this is the
costume Adán has been given, but he swaps with Pedro).
The assassination attempt fails because Juan and Jacaranda
recognize each other and start a brawl, tossing cakes and
pies (however, while they were incognito they fell in love
again, and eventually reconcile). Adán learns the truth
behind the clinic: Dr. Balbuena's clients are all politically
connected (Michelle is engaged to an Arab prince, Arthur
is the son of the Prime Minister of England) and are being
hypnotized into becoming sexual killers. Eva flees, her
plot exposed.
The lame conclusion of the film explains nothing: how
the patients were supposed to kill their victims, why the
particular victims were chosen, how each patient was lured
to the clinic in the first place, what the purpose of the
scheme was (blackmail? political power?), and so forth.
Furthermore, we never actually see Eva supervising any of
the criminal activities, it's always Elena who directs the
Pecado original [Original Sin] (Radeant Films*,
1989) Exec Prod: Antonio de Anda; Dir: Javier Durán;
Adapt: Gilberto de Anda; Story: Raúl de Anda G.; Photo:
Antonio de Anda; Music: Ernesto Cortázar [Jr.]; Prod
Mgr: Héctor Baltierra C.; Asst Dir: Carlos Durán E.; Film
Ed: Enrique Murillo R.; Camera Op: José Luis Vera;
Makeup: Carmen de la Torre; Dialog Rec: Víctor Rojo;
Union: STIC
*the copyright notice reads "Prods. Raúl de Anda" but
the main credits say "Radeant Films presents"
Cast: Rodolfo de Anda (Insp. Adán Meléndez), Janet
Mass (Dr. Eva Balbuena), Pedro Infante Jr. (Juan), Lorena
Herrera (Elena), Alfonso Munguía (Lt. Pedro Rosales),
Jorge Russek (police cmdte.), Arturo Cobo (Lic. Rosas),
Jacaranda Alfaro (Jacaranda), Lizzeta Romo
(?Margarita), Blanca Nieves (Santa), Raúl Trujillo
(Carlitos), Michaelle Meyer (Michelle, patient), Arturo
Martínez Jr. (Arthur Pendragon), Juan Moro (Moro)
Notes: though perhaps intended as an imitation of the
Martínez Solares movies of the 1980s--which combined
sexy-comedy and crime genres--Pecado original is very
bland overall. There are many attractive female
performers, and the "buddy" chemistry between Rodolfo
de Anda and Alfonso Munguía is quite good, but the plot
takes forever to unfold (and is not resolved properly even
brainwashing, and yet at the end Adán embraces Elena and
Eva is said to have escaped from the country.
The various comic sequences are poorly handled and
never really pay off. The movie is further padded out with
a more than 10-minute flashback showing Adán and Pedro
9
The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
automobile. They are pursued by a troop of cavalry (the
train carried a military payroll). First the driver of the
getaway car is shot, then the female robber is mortally
wounded. The wounded leader of the gang (Mario
Almada) escapes on horseback. He arrives at an old,
spooky-looking hacienda. Forcing his way through a huge
wooden door, the robber emerges into broad daylight (and
the film suddenly changes to full color). But as he spins
around, he is suddenly struck by a speeding train!
This sequence is very well done: the antique car, the
train, the costumes are all quite impressive, and the action
is shot and edited expertly. Although there is little
dialogue and no real character development, the audience
is caught up in the excitement and empathises with the
robbers. There is one nice moment when Mario Almada
has to leave his wounded female accomplice--they
exchange a look, then he limps off, leaving her to die
alone. The dark, unusual-looking hacienda is also welldesigned and photographed, and--although it comes as a
disappointment since it marks the end of Almada's
participation in the film--the shock ending is really a
surprise.
The second episode picks up with an aerial shot of
the speeding train. Flying over the area is a helicopter
(piloted by Jorge Luke). The pilot strays into the strange
area in northern Mexico known as the "zone of silence,"
and his aircraft suddenly loses power and he is forced to
in action against some criminals, who are eventually
revealed to be women (including a nun!). This is supposed
to be Adán's explanation of the sexual problems he and
Pedro are suffering, but the sequence is far too long for its
purpose (and not at all humorous).
The production values are satisfactory and the
performances are OK--Lorena Herrera is particularly
attractive and has much more to do than second-billed
Janet Mass (one might even suspect Mass quit the movie
halfway through, since her role is truncated and she
vanishes before the conclusion). The female supporting
cast and extras are all sexy young women in abbreviated
costumes, but for what? We get a couple of brief nude or
topless bits from Mass, Alfaro, and Mayer, that's it.
Lots of wasted potential.
Trivia note: this film united three of the de Anda
brothers, Antonio as producer/cinematographer, Gilberto
scripting (from a screen story by his father), and Rodolfo
starring.
La zona del silencio [The Zone of Silence]
(Televicine-Prods. Rodas, 1990) Prod: Fernando de
Fuentes [hijo], Rodolfo de Anda; Dir: Rodolfo de Anda;
Scr: Gilberto de Anda; Photo: Francisco Bojórquez;
Music: Luis Arcaraz (including themes by Gustav Holst);
Prod Mgr: Rodolfo de Anda Jr.; Asst Dir: Marta García;
Film Ed: Zigfrigdo [sic] García; Art Dir: Raúl de Anda III;
Camera Op: Salvador Zerecero; Makeup: Karla Acosta;
Sound Op: Eduardo Martínez; Union: STIC
CAST: Rodolfo de Anda (air show robber), Olivia
Collins (Emilia), Mario Almada (train robber), Jorge Luke
(helicopter pilot), Jorge Russek (scientist), Ernesto Gómez
Cruz (campesino), Juan Peláez (air show official), Rodolfo
de Anda Jr. (Manuel), Arturo Martínez hijo (train robber
driver), Jaime Reyes (army officer), América Gabriel
(woman train robber), Letizia Lozaya and Cintia del Villar
(hitchhikers), Leo Rojo (air show robbery accomplice),
María Velazco, Héctor Reynoso (firing squad officer)
NOTES: I have to rate this film as a disappointment,
considering I had read a brief description of the fantasy
plot, purchased a pre-record (with nice cover art), and was
impressed by the good cast. However, I was disappointed
to discover that the picture consisted of 5 separate
segments, each one peripherally linked to its predecessor,
thus preventing any interaction between Mario Almada, de
Anda, Luke, Collins, Russek, etc. The stories are also
rather thin, shaggy-dog tales with twist endings, although
the Almada and Luke episodes are superior to the others,
especially in production values and mise-en-scene. La
zona del silencio was released directly to videotape—the
running time is a short 81 minutes. In many ways, the
picture reminds one of Masacre nocturna (1990), another
multi-story fantasy film written by Gilberto de Anda (and
in that case, directed by him as well), featuring Mario
Almada and Juan Peláez, which has the same sort of casual
linking between each story.
The film opens with a really nice period sequence--in
black and white--set in the 1910s: two men and a woman
rob a moving train, then escape across country in an
land in the wilderness. After wandering through the
woods for a time, the pilot stumbles across a cave. Inside,
there are skeletons clad in conquistador-style armor--and a
huge chest full of gold coins! The pilot pockets as many
coins as he can carry, then leaves. He arrives at the (same)
old hacienda. An old campesino opens the door; the pilot
says he is tired and asks to spend the night.
The campesino tells the story of a group of soldiers
during the colonial period who hid their treasure in a
10
The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
design, and production values. Furthermore, the twist
ending makes no sense: why would the firing squad
execute a man they had never seen before? At least the
train robber's death in the first sequence was an accident; it
would have been more logical (and just as ironic) for the
Rodolfo de Anda character in the final episode to have
emerged in the line of fire at the exact moment the firing
squad was executing someone else. Instead, the business
with the "worthless" money from the future was
substituted, also ironic but basically illogical.
La zona del silencio starts off extremely well, but it's
all downhill after that.
Trivia note: this film practically qualifies as a fullemployment project for the de Anda family, with brothers
Rodolfo and Gilberto and "next generation" Rodolfo Jr.
and Raúl III behind the camera, and Rodolfo Sr. and Jr.
acting as well.
nearby cave, and left one of their number to guard it.
When the pilot accidentally spills some of the gold coins
he is carrying, the old man is upset, claiming the
"guardian" of the treasure will find him! Sure enough, a
knight in a suit of armor (his face is never seen) shows up
and decapitates the old man. The pilot flees through the
woods, and makes it to a highway--but falls prey to the
knight at the last moment.
This episode isn't bad, but there isn't much to it. Luke
wanders into the cave for no particular reason, and there
isn't any "twist" ending (as he steals the gold the camera
lingers on the seated, immobile figure of the knight in
armor; it's obvious that the knight is going to revive and
whack Luke, sooner or later).
The third episode begins as a truck drives down the
highway through the forest; the driver thinks he sees a
knight in armor, but shrugs it off as a trick his eyes were
playing on him. The young man is driving an elderly
scientist to a particular spot in the "zone of silence." Once
there, they erect an antenna and some scientific apparatus.
The scientist has calculated that this is the perfect spot to
broadcast a message into space: his lifelong dream has
been to contact alien intelligence. The two men labor
through the night, but there is no response. Sadly, the
scientist packs his equipment; then he suffers a heart attack
and is obviously dying. His only regret, he tells the young
man, is that his messages were never received. Before the
scientist dies, his companion assures him his messages
were received--and removes his human "face," revealing a
green alien visage. The old man dies happy.
Aside from the performance of Jorge Russek as the
elderly professor--the opposite of his usual villainous
roles--this episode is not very interesting. The alien mask
worn by Rodolfo de Anda Jr. is only seen briefly and from
a distance, but is pale green and resembles the nowfamiliar bald, big-eyed "Close Encounters" extraterrestrial.
A brief sequence about two young women
hitchhikers follows. A black limousine with tinted
windows stops, but one of the hitchhikers is suspicious and
lags behind. Her companion is dragged into the car
through a window, and a torrent of blood results. The
surviving woman flees from the killer car and is picked up
by a passing truck. This episode is short and pointless.
The final sequence begins as a van passes them,
driving the other direction. Inside are two men and a
woman. They go to a large air show and balloon race
(actual footage of a real event). They rob the trailer where
the ticket proceeds are being counted. However, the gang
leader (Rodolfo de Anda) double-crosses his accomplices
and escapes alone in a hot air balloon. When the balloon
lands, the robber finds himself in the same hacienda as in
the first episode. He goes through the same door, but in
reverse, going from 1990 back to 1915, and finds himself
facing a firing squad! He protests, and tries to bribe the
officer, but the stolen money is from the "future" and thus
worthless. As the film ends, the robber is executed.
This episode is padded out with a lot of footage of the
air show, but the presence of the attractive Olivia Collins is
a real bonus. The plot is basically the same as the first
episode, but pales in comparison to that sequence's pace,
Piedras verdes [Green Stones]
(FloresdelValleFlores-Videocine-De Cuernos al AbismoCONACULTA-IMCINE, 2000) Prod: Ángel Flores
Marini; Dir: Ángel Flores Torres; Scr: Ángel Flores
Torres, Ángel Flores Marini; Collab: Ofelia Medina, Silvia
Torres, Pablo Osorio, María del Pozo, Alfredo Joskowicz;
Story: Ángel Flores Torres; Photo: Eduardo Flores Torres;
Music: Café Tacuba, Óscar Chávez, El Gran Silencio,
Botellita de Jérez, Resorte, Taquío; Co-Prod: Francisco del
Valle; Assoc Prod: Miguel Camacho; Prod Mgr: Emilia
Arau; Asst Dir-Second Unit Dir: Gabriela Retes; Film Ed:
Damián Mendoza, Ángel Flores Torres; Art Dir: Mirko
von Berner
Cast: Vanessa Bauche (Mariana), Osvaldo Benavides
(Sebastián), Juan Claudio Retes (Gallardo), Gabriel Retes
(father), Alicia del Lago (Aurora), Ignacio Retes
(comisario), Óscar Chávez (José Santana), Blanca
Sánchez (Dolores), Dagoberto Gama (Cruz), Damián
Delgado (Antonio), Norman Sotolongo (Max), Marisol del
Lago (young Mariana)
11
The Mexican Film Bulletin, Volume 16 Number 1 (Jan-Feb 2010)
of drugs) were stolen. He wants Mariana to return to
Mexico City with him and claim her inheritance, to repay
him for the trouble she caused. In town, Mariana sees the
train arrive; Sebastián is aboard, having returned from the
jungle because he loves her. As she runs away from
Gallardo, Mariana is struck by the train, just as her mother
was. [It's unclear if she survives or not: the last shot of the
movie is the reflection of Sebastián in her eye.]
Piedras verdes is an interesting character study.
Mariana apparently has little idea of her past--when she
arrives in Mexico City, she stares briefly at the sign
directing "Mexicans" one way and "Extranjeros"
[Foreigners] elsewhere. She remembers her adopted father
affectionately, though he took her to the boarding school
(probably at the behest of Dolores), but there is little love
lost between Mariana and her adopted mother. A quick
glimpse of her birth certificate tells Mariana where she was
born, but she doesn't immediately go in search of her roots.
Instead, she goes shopping in the city (Dolores wants her
to get an apartment if she isn't returning to school,
claiming the family home will soon be sold), visits a
nightclub, has her car stolen, meets Gallardo, and gets
side-tracked for a time.
Although she is, unknowingly, reunited with her
father (who saves her life by giving her water in the desert
and warning her of a nearby rattlesnake), Mariana finds the
difficult life in Magnolia less stressful and potentially
more rewarding than life in the crime-ridden, corrupt
Mexico City.
In fact, Piedras verdes has a clear sub-text that one
may find peace and meaning in nature, whether it is the
northern desert or the southern jungle. Mariana's father
doesn't kill the snake threatening Mariana (he says "quiet,
my beauty"), preferring to live in harmony with the desert
creatures. Sebastián and his friend Cruz admire the beauty
of the jungle, spending time with a sort of guru and his
followers there. In contrast, the Mexico City scenes are
full of crime, strange street denizens, hip young people
who use drugs, indifferent and/or ignorant and
incompetent police, and so on.
As noted above, there are a few "stylish" touches-quick cuts, flashbacks, distorted visuals, "music video"style sequences--but nothing too radical. Flores Torres
seems to understand that the drama carries the film with
the aid of the audio/visual components, not vice versa.
The performances are all satisfactory, and the overall
production values are fine. The script isn't perfect and
some of the aphorisms seem deliberately calculated to be
used in the trailer (which they are), but there are also some
funny bits and other scenes which are painfully real in
their emotions.
Overall, certainly worth a look.
Notes: the first feature directed by Ángel Flores Torres
(he'd previously done music videos, and his father Ángel
Flores Marini is a veteran producer), Piedras verdes has a
few stylistic flourishes but is generally a straight-forward,
well-acted drama. Although Vanessa Bauche, Osvaldo
Benavides and Juan Claudio Retes occupy the spotlight,
the supporting cast is also strong, though most of the
performers appear only briefly (Blanca Sánchez has the
most prominent role aside from the three leads).
In the desert town of Magnolia, Tamaulipas (the film
was shot in San Luis Potosí, the D.F., and Veracruz,
however), a pregnant women is struck by a train and
fatally injured. Her husband, in despair, runs away and is
never seen again. The woman's baby is delivered and later
adopted by the wealthy José Santana and his wife Dolores.
The girl, Mariana, is sent to a boarding school, returning
home for the funeral of her father (who drowned after
being playfully pushed into a swimming pool by his wife
during a costume party). Dolores is cool at first to
Mariana; when the young woman borrows one of the
family cars and it's stolen in the city, Dolores becomes
enraged. Drug dealer Gallardo offers Mariana his
assistance in recovering the auto; they have an affair and
move in together.
Mariana begins to use drugs and has an abortion. She
and Gallardo argue and she accidentally pushes him out of
the second-floor window of their apartment. Fleeing the
scene, Mariana twists her ankle and is aided by Sebastián,
a young man who lives nearby. They fall in love but part
when Mariana heads to Magnolia in search of her father,
and Sebastián goes to the jungles of Veracruz to help a
friend search for UFOs (!).
In Magnolia, Mariana learns the appearance of water in
the dusty town's well is a major event. She meets Aurora,
the widow of the town's comisario (similar to a mayor),
who remembers the death of her mother and how her
father ran into the desert and was never seen again.
Mariana sets off in the same direction her father took, 18
years earlier. She loses her way and is rescued by a
strange, nomadic figure (do you think it might be...?) who
tells her "If you take the road, you won't get lost; but you
won't find yourself, either." She decides to stay in
Magnolia for a time and open a school.
THE MEXICAN FILM BULLETIN is published
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However, one night Gallardo appears (he learned
where Mariana was from Dolores, who is dying). He
survived the fall from the window but was hospitalised for
several months (and still walks with a cane and has a
scarred face), and all of his belongings (including his stash
12