Margarita Sanz Movies
This Mexican drama is a faithful adaptation of Nobel-laureate Naguib Mahfouz's novel, only it is set in contemporary Mexico City instead of 1940s Cairo. The film is comprised of three overlapping "chapters" that come together in the fourth chapter. Each segment, centering on a different character, takes place at the same time in a rundown neighborhood. The disparate characters all have one thing in common--none of them get what they want. Chava, the son of tavern-owner Rutilio, wants to go to the US. The fiercely independent and beautiful Alma is thinking about marrying a wealthy shop keeper. The impoverished young barber Abel is in love with Alma. Then there is the spinster Susanita who owns an apartment house and spends her spare time involved in unhealthy love affairs. After killing his father's mistress in a fit of moral outrage, Chava ends up on the lam for two years. Abel takes off for a long time and Alma ends up becoming a drug-addicted prostitute whom Abel cannot save. Susanita gets married to young Guicho and learns that he is robbing her. She is just about to toss him out when she discovers that her really loves her after all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Forty years in a very dysfunctional marital relationship are covered in this curious black comedy. Beginning the morning after their wedding ceremony, Jacqueline (Socorro Bonilla) and Nicolas (Alonso Echánove) found that they were at odds with each other. Nicolas is irritated to discover that Jacqueline can't cook, and Jacqueline is apalled to discover that Nicolas doesn't want children - now or ever. They drift apart but don't divorce. Nicolas had devoted all his energies to his hardware store business and has moved into real estate, growing shiftier with each passing year. Each of them takes lovers. Jacqueline tries to inspire her lovers to kill her now-despised husband, but somehow every one of their dastardly schemes falls through. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Socorro Bonilla, Alonso Echanove, (more)
Dull-witted Mexican peasant Ernesto Gomez Cruz comes into possession of a rooster severely injured in a cockfight. He restores the bird's health and wins several bouts, then runs afoul of gambler Alejandro Parodi, who has the rooster's ribs cracked so it can never win again. Taking Cruz under his wing, the gambler teaches the peasant how to be tops in the speculating field. In the company of Parodi's girlfriend Blanca Guerra, who functions as a human good-luck charm, Cruz becomes successful, but Guerra tires of living in Cruz's shadow and kills herself. More than a little influenced by Luis Bunuel, the Mexican Realm of Fortune (El Imperio De La Fortuna) won several awards in its country of origin, though it has only fitfully seen the light of day in the US. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Blanca Guerra, (more)
After being attached to a number of actors, directors, and producers, this long-gestating biography of one of Mexico's most prominent, iconoclastic painters reaches the screen under the guiding hand of producer/star Salma Hayek. Hayek ages some 30 years onscreen as she charts Frida Kahlo's life from feisty schoolgirl to Diego Rivera protégée to world-renowned artist in her own right. Frida details Kahlo's affluent upbringing in Mexico City, and her nurturing relationship with her traditional mother (Patricia Reyes Spindola) and philosophical father (Roger Rees). Having already suffered the crippling effects of polio, Kahlo sustains further injuries when a city bus accident nearly ends her life. But in her bed-ridden state, the young artist produces dozens upon dozens of pieces; when she recovers, she presents them to the legendary -- and legendarily temperamental -- Rivera (Alfred Molina), who takes her under his wing as an artist, a political revolutionary, and, inevitably, a lover. But their relationship is fraught with trouble, as the philandering Rivera traverses the globe painting murals, and Kahlo languishes in obscurity, longing to make her mark on her own. Frida was directed by Julie Taymor, whose Broadway production of The Lion King won her international acclaim. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, (more)
- 1986
- PG
A doctor (Tom Conti) and his wife (Teri Garr), recently divorced, are kidnapped and brought to South America by an inept jewel thief (Paul Rodriguez), just in time to help cure a tribal chief's daughter of appendicitis. Then, a series of circumstances brings the entire family together. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
