paulmx Reviews

Abolición de la propiedad (2012)

A fresh film in Mexican cinema

[8/10 · 21 February 2012]

This movie is just incredible. Good editing, perfect timing and great performances. It reflects the everlasting bourgeois outlook to possess everything, even love. The screenplay is based on a play written by Mexican playwright Jose Agustin. Everything occurs in a single location with only two characters and it might seem boring, but it's quite the opposite: rich in suspense and intrigue, the story grows and keeps the tension from the beginning to the end.

This movie has no comparison with any other recent film made in Mexico, except for the simplicity of the staging, which is not noticed due to the dynamism of film editing.

Worth watching.

El abuelo Cheno y otras historias (1994)

Poetic documentary

[8/10 · 5 June 2011]

Five years before shooting "I Forgot, I Don't Remember", Juan Carlos Rulfo films in the south of Jalisco this 30 minutes medium-length movie about his dead grandfather Juan Nepomuceno Pérez (Juan Rulfo's father).

As is known, the murder of his father greatly affected Juan Rulfo's life and inspired him to write "Pedro Páramo" and "El llano en llamas", two of the best Mexican books of the 20th century.

Juan Carlos Rulfo superbly portrays the life of people who hear the whispers of a past life before death.

‎"I think the world will never end. Because when I was about eight years, one day, once in Apulco, my mom rolled us up in two mats because that day was going to end the world. The father told us. And it was all bullshit, there we woke up, sleepless and praying, praying and praying, waiting for the stroke, and anything finished. It was more than seventy years ago and look!" -fragment from the film.

Revolución (2010)

Revolución

[7/10 · 17 October 2010]

"Revolution" takes for excuse the Centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution to show the current forms of filmmaking in Mexico. But, is it Mexican cinema? It doesn't care to answer this question.

I just saw this movie at the Morelia Film Festival, where the majority of the directors were present to discuss their films. It's interesting and it deserves to be celebrated the diversity of contemporary Mexican cinema. "Revolution" is not film about the Mexican Revolution, neither and it's not a triumphant film. It is a film that explores the concept of "revolution" as a renewal or as an critique of what has been said about it.

"Revolution" is not a protest film, but of personal art commitment of each director. Worth watching.

Leap Year (2010)

Great movie

[8/10 · 4 September 2010]

Laura's character is so complex. We see her living a superfluous life when she interacts with other characters, except for her brother Raul and a guy named Arturo. We descend to the darkest levels of the human psyche along with the main character and that exploration is highly successful by the director. The film is linear, with no jumps in time as does Inarritu or Guillermo Arriaga, and also includes sex scenes which are pretty explicit. Although it seems the movie is just porn, it goes beyond sex. The aesthetic is like simple and I think the merit of the movie is the story and how it show us the life of a lonely woman living on a big city. So, after painful and rough journey, perhaps it is possible to find hope and redemption. A great Mexican film.