Acorralados

The story is basic and predictable. The son of a wealthy hacienda owner wants to get together with the daughter of another, but a "distant" cousin of the daughter doesn't like that at all. It turns out this cousin is extremely mean-spirited and ambitious, so he stirs up quite the tragic series of events and comes to obtain power over both of the haciendas himself.

Something amazing about this movie is how smooth its simple story is. Every plot point is believable and fits into the sequence marvelously. It was very well-written. There's never any need to add deus ex machinae or to stretch the imagination to believe the events of the plot because they are integrated seamlessly into each other and the world created by the writer.

Of course, as usual in Valentin Trujillo movies, the casting is impeccable. It's hard to say who did this or that or embodied the character better. There aren't that many characters - perhaps only 8 or so (which may be what makes the movie so strong - simple but executed marvelously) - but they're all flawlessly cast and written. Even the minor characters, such as the girl's father embodies the embattled and concern landowner who doesn't want to give up his claims, but hopes a solution could be found.

One thing that left me shocked was the music. Often times these movies were just vehicles to showcase some cheesy ranchera songs. I think there are only three tracks on this film, of which one is a foreboding ranchera-corrido. The second is a very effective dark instrumental track. And shockingly the daughter sings a spectacular melancholy pop song in the middle of the film. A shame I couldn't find it reproduced anywhere.

It's predictable and the ending is rushed, but what a pleasant surprise to see a film so well-written and expertly constructed. I also appreciated the somber mood. While it's not horror, the instrumental track is reminiscent of theme songs from horror films and the ending is that classic horror ending where the characters have reason to feel relieved on some level, but they've lost so much on the way there that it's an ambivalent and not a happy ending.

Honourable Mentions: Great Balls of Fire! (1989). One unintentionally funny line of dialogue that I think pops up multiple times is when the evil cousin broaches marriage to the hacienda owner's daughter, she replies "but we're cousins!" And they have a little tiff. Jerry Lee Lewis famously married his cousin and the community's shock was portrayed in his 1989 biopic.