Guillermo Gil Movies

A simple homeless man in search of a warm place to sleep is exploited by politicians eager to prove that poverty in Mexico has been eradicated in Herod's Law director Luis Estrada's caustic satire concerning the effect of globalization on Mexican citizens. A press conference has been held to proclaim that there are no more poor people in Mexico, but homeless Juan Pérez (Herod's Law star Damián Alcázar) still can't seem to find a place to rest his weary head. After wandering into the World Financial Center headquarters and ending up on an elevated window ledge, Juan awakens to find that the public and press assume he is making a political statement against the powerful institution's neo-liberal stance. As Juan is swept up by the political machine that remains unwilling to admit their claims of conquering poverty may have been made in haste, the wandering tramp is given a spotless home in the suburbs and thrust into the international spotlight. But fame is a fickle thing in the 21st century, and rising to the top only means that one has farther to fall when the next media distraction takes center stage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Luis Estrada directs this groundbreaking and extremely controversial satire about Mexico's long-ruling political party, the PRI. Set in the late 1940s in the remote, thoroughly backwards village of San Pedro de los Saguaros, the film focuses on Vargas (Damian Alcazar), a petty politician who had the dubious honor of being appointed town mayor after his predecessor was decapitated for corruption by an angry mob. At first, he tries to balance the books and to bring the 20th century to the backwaters. When he is visited by slick PRI politico Lopez (Pedro Armendariz), however, he learns the officially sanctioned way of running the town: at gunpoint while pilfering the bank vaults. Soon Vargas becomes a power-mad despot, more than willing to steal or kill to further his goals. Though his PRI bosses try to reign him in, the lynch mob soon appears to be the inevitable end of Vargas' political career. The first film to criticize the PRI by name, Estrada's bitter farce savages the ruling party, the church and U.S. intervention. Cult director Alex Cox plays a small role as a seedy gringo. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

This stylish, taut and unpredictable Spanish thriller is laced with black comedy and social consciousness as it tells the convoluted tale centering on alcoholic, unlucky Gloria Duque, an impoverished Mexico City prostitute. She is first seen performing fellatio on several crooks as they make another drug deal. Something goes awry and violence erupts and two corrupt drug agents and a local gangster die. Eduardo, an Argentine hit man survives and he does not kill Gloria. Just before one of the agents died, he handed Gloria a list of international money-laundering businesses and when things settle down she flies to Madrid, her hometown. There she sees her husband, a bullfighter in an irreversible coma, and begins living off of her mother-in-law's money. Doña Julia cares about her daughter-in-law and tries to get her to give up the booze, go to school and earn a respectable living, but Gloria is stubborn and insists on making it her own way. Unfortunately, her way is to rob a furrier, a front for one of the illicit businesses. Meanwhile, back in Mexico, Eduardo prepares to fly to Spain and complete his latest assignment: to kill Gloria and bring back the valuable list. Fortunately for her, just before Eduardo gets to her, Eduardo sees the light and turns to God instead of killing, but in the end, it is Doña Julia who holds the key to Gloria's final salvation. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi