Tuesday, July 05, 2016
Rites of passage and back again
Today's film follows two friends who use the opportunity to run away with another friend's fiancé.
Which is hardly an apt description of this fine Mexican film.
I have seen this many times and it does not dim with repetition.
I think that what attracts me is the ambience which, like other recent films, is definitely "on the road" with real people. Real locations. Not a hint of a movie crew. A lot of hand held. I know that there are probably 30-40 people behind the camera but it does not come off that way.
Also, the actors, Gael Garcia Benal, Diego Luna and Maribel Verdu are totally in sync with one another. How scripted? I do not know. Which is part of the success of the film.
There is also the "gay" content which is mostly accidental but not. These guys are definitely so bent as heterosexuals that anything else, even a threesome, is shameful to them unless they are drunk. The two meet after they return by accident. They have coffee and cannot take the heat of the reunion.
Shame is a powerful force inflicted by a disapproving society.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
