De la calle (2001)

Director:

Gerardo Tort

Writers:

Jesús González Dávila (play)
Marina Stavenhagen (writer)

Release Date:

12 October 2001 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

La calle es de quien la trabaja, vive y ama en ella.

Plot:

Authentic and committed, moving and stormy drama of street kids from Mexico City. Wonderful adaptation of successful play about street kids who have more trouble with corrupt cops, than with dirty and heavy work.

Plot Keywords:

Gay Interest | Transvestite | Female Nudity | Incest Rape | Based On Play

Awards:

22 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Luis Fernando Peña	...	Rufino
Maya Zapata	...	Xóchitl
Armando Hernández	...	Cero
Mario Zaragoza	...	Ochoa
Luis Felipe Tovar	...	Chicharra
Vanessa Bauche	...	Amparo
Abel Woolrich	...	Félix
Cristina Michaus	...	Seño
Ernesto Yáñez	...	Gregorio
Alfonso Figueroa	...	Globero
Roberto 'Raki' Ríos	...	El Trueno (as Roberto Ríos 'Raki')
Jorge Zárate	...	Carnicero 'Don Lenche'
Norma Angélica	...	Gloria
Iván Rafael González	...	Juan
Óscar Sevilla	...	Antonio

Also Known As:

DeLaCalle (Mexico) (alternative spelling)
Streeters (International: English title)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE)

Soundtrack:

Voy

3 stars

This is a film set in present day Mexico City, where the teen aged main characters have little to live for except maybe drugs and sex. The main character is named Rufino, who learns that his father might be alive, and even though he had always been told otherwise, he becomes obsessed with finding him. Near the beginning of the film he comes into some drug money that shouldn't really be his, so he tells his girlfriend Xóchitl that she, her son, and Rufino can get away from the city, perhaps to see the ocean for the first time.

But no one in this film really goes anywhere. The Ferris Wheel that they ride near the beginning of the film is the perfect image, since it goes around and around, but there is no real escape. Everyone is just getting by, living day to day.

The acting by Maya Zapata (Xóchitl) and Luis Fernando Peña (Rufino) is excellent, and the rest of the young cast is also very natural. The camera is mostly handheld and the feel is very realistic and gritty.

The first time director was not at the screening where I saw this at the San Francisco International Film Festival on 4/24/2002, but the SFFS person did read some comments from him, which included the words "open wound." I think that sums up the film, which is worth seeing but is certainly not uplifting.