Martha Aura Movies
- 1985
This slow-paced drama wears the appearance of a documentary to better put across its message of desperation among the poverty-stricken denizens of Mexico's worst barrios. A mother of four (Martha Aura) has been arrested for strangling her children to death. Two social workers spend time with the murderess and her neighbors, grilling them to try to find out why such a universally heinous crime was committed. As conditions in prison and in the slums are brought to the fore, the question almost answers itself though not quite. Everyone in these barrios is desperate, though not everyone murders their children. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martha Aura, Ana Ofelia Murguia, (more)
Using digital video and a skeleton crew, master filmmaker Arturo Ripstein boldly reworks the ancient Greek drama Medea, employing a dizzying array of flashbacks and Brechtian devices. The film focuses on Julia (Arcelia Ramirez) who works as an homeopathic doctor. Lovelorn and embittered, she learns that her husband, a failed boxer named Nicolas, has dumped her in favor of a younger woman, Raquel (Francesca Guillen), the daughter of local slumlord La Marrana (Ernesto Yanez). To make matters worse, Nicolas wants to take the kids, while at the same time La Marrana evicts Julia from her modest abode. Julia's growing thirst for vengeance is furthered by her godmother who believes that all men should be castrated. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arcelia Ramirez, Luis Felipe Tovar, (more)
Mexican-born, New York-based filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón directed this Mexican box-office smash hit about a pair of randy upper-class buddies that sparked some controversy for its frank depiction of drug use and sexual exploration. With their respective girlfriends away in Europe, Julio (Gael García Bernal) and his upper-class friend Tenoch (Diego Luna) are looking forward to a summer full of drink, drugs, and cheap meaningless sex. During a wedding, they meet Luisa (Maribel Verdú) -- the 28-year-old wife of Tenoch's scholarly cousin -- and try to convince her to go on a road trip to Heaven's Mouth, a made-up beach paradise the two claim is on the Oaxacan coast. To their surprise, Luisa -- who is looking to escape her troubled life for a spell -- agrees to go along. Two days into the trip, tension starts to build between the two friends: Luisa has had sex with each, and now both lads are not-so-quietly vying for her affection. Soon simmering jealousies boil over into savage arguments, threatening to completely destroy their friendship. After an enormously successful run in Mexico and Guatemala, this film was screened to much acclaim at the 2001 Venice, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, (more)
