'Til Death (1994)

El Boy (Bernal) is a street kid who lives with his alcoholic aunt Chenta (Beristain) dreaming of one chance to run away and reach his long-lost friend Mauricio (Bichir) in the bordertown of... See full summary »

Director:

Fernando Sariñana

Writer:

Marcela Fuentes-Berain

Stars:

Demián Bichir, Juan Manuel Bernal, Verónica Merchant

5 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Demián Bichir	...	Mauricio (as Demian Bichir)
Juan Manuel Bernal	...	El Boy
Verónica Merchant	...	Victoria
Vanessa Bauche	...	Adela
Dolores Beristáin	...	Chenta
Jorge Jimenez	...	Ernesto
Ximena Sariñana	...	Melisa
Maru Dueñas	...	Diana
Dino García	...	El Espanto
Monserrat Ontiveros	...	Ester
Alfredo Sevilla	...	Don Cruz
Luisa Huertas	...	Woman at grocery store

Storyline

El Boy (Bernal) is a street kid who lives with his alcoholic aunt Chenta (Beristain) dreaming of one chance to run away and reach his long-lost friend Mauricio (Bichir) in the bordertown of Tijuana. Mauricio returns and tries to convince El Boy of helping him in a kidnapping, but confidence between them is rapidly replaced with lies and betrayal. After commiting a crime, El Boy will be sent to Tijuana leaving Mauricio free way to take control of his entire life.

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Plot Keywords:

betrayal | alcoholic | kidnapping | bound and gagged | tied to a chair | 

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Genres:

Drama

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User Reviews

Mauricio (Bichir), a cholo guy from Tijuana, goes to visit his friend from Mexico City, El Boy(Bernal), who lives with his alcoholic aunt(Beristain), and start saving some money from robberies they do to kid

The main point of this movie is honor; Those who set the rules of it and those who truly take the principles to the facts. They may have made a better Character out of Mauricio (I would have named him, to begin, "El rulis" or any common nickname from the slang of this fashion), but Demián Bichir was, anyway, the best actor they could have found for this role. Conventionally, we can talk about El Boy (Bernal, excellent in his role by the way, too) as the good guy, and Demián Bichir as the bad, but each turn their their ways and, at the end of the movie we ask ourselves how worth could revenge be in this case. What did anybody would win from from that? Concerning this, this movie is somehow thought provoking. There are some phrases we hear very often throughout the movie : "Life is not the same for everybody", " A tattoo is not simple fashion, but pain that comes from deep inside and you cannot forget", etc...What I understood from all those vague hints, is that we see two characters from very different backgrounds merge in a single one, and that intention is not the only thing that we need to change our lives and rescue something that's lost...

Those who have seen "bound by honor" or "Boulevard Nights" or "la banda de los panchitos" and liked them, may like this one, even though the cholo characters are not as well portrayed as in these, maybe because they didn't have the first hand resource....but they tried, and found that in the end, the banda and cholo fashions are not as dissimilar as they look. Both are mexican after all.

Details

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

6 January 1995 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

'Til Death

Filming Locations:

Libertad, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A., Fondo de Fomento a la Calidad Cinematográfica, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1