Gabriel Retes Movies
Esteban Ramirez's melodrama Caribe stars Jorge Perugorria as Vincente a man who has gotten himself into difficult positions in both his personal life and his financial life. He engages in an affair with his sister-in-law, while also fielding offers from large oil companies to buy his land. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jorge Perugorría, Cuca Escribano, (more)
One woman searches for peace in a life that offers her little respite in this melodrama from Mexico. Mariana (Vanessa Bauche) has lived a life that began in chaos when her mother was killed in an accident before Mariana was born; the baby was saved, and then sold to a wealthy couple through a black-market adoption agency. As she grows to adulthood, Mariana finds herself often feuding with her adopted mother Dolores (Blanca Sanchez), who refuses to give her a share of the family's estate. In time, Mariana becomes involved with Carlos Gallardo (Juan Claudio Retes) and pursues an increasingly decadent lifestyle with him until he falls to his death from a window during an argument. In a panic, Mariana runs away, finding solace with Sebastian (Osvaldo Benavides), a stable and spiritually oriented man who allows her to join him on a pilgrimage to the rain forest. As Sebastian follows his higher power, Mariana tries to find some closure regarding her troubled childhood by searching for her long-lost biological father. Piedras Verdes was the first feature film from director Angel Flores Torres, who previously directed a number of popular music videos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Bauche, Osvaldo Benavides, (more)
Murder, mob justice and a young man's coming of age are brought together in this thriller filmed in Mexico. Ramon (Diego Luna), a young man who lives in a small Mexican farming community, one day finds the body of Adela (Laila Saab) in a field, stabbed to death. The incident is doubly upsetting for Ramon, because he was in love with the girl, though he never did anything about it. The town's sheriff (Hector Alterio) quickly names a culprit, known as the Gypsy (Karra Elejalde). But while the Gypsy was elsewhere at the time of the murder, he can't proclaim his innocence, as he was with his lover at the time, a married woman. Ramon senses something is wrong, but isn't sure what to do -- especially when many in town are pressuring him to avenge the death of the woman he loved, despite the fact it was no more than a schoolboy's crush. The debut film from director Gabriel Retes, Un Dulce Olor A Muerte/A Sweet Scent of Death was shown at the 1999 Guadalajara Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karra Elejalde, Ana Alvarez, (more)
A period piece that blends first love, the power of the cinema and the Mexican Revolution, El Cometa is set in 1910, as Medero's factions were organizing against the Profirio Diaz regime. Romualdo (Gabriel Retes) owns a traveling vaudeville show and has just lost his star attraction when his son Victor (Diego Luna) meets Guy (Patrick LeMauff), a French cinematographer who has worked for Lumiere. Victor is fascinated by the possibilities of the movies, and when Guy discovers Romualdo needs a new drawing card, he offers him a deal -- a movie set-up at a bargain price in exchange for helping to hide Valentina (Ana Claudia Talancon), a girl whose father was arrested for working with Medero's rebels. Valentina is also carrying a fortune in gold which she hopes to smuggle to Medero, who is hiding in Texas, but in the meantime she and Victor begin a romance and Valentina becomes the new star of the show while trying to elude the police. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diego Luna, Ana Claudia Talancón, (more)
- 1996
Set within the dank confines of a freighter's hold, this intense drama offers a provocative look into the lives of six disparate, young Latin American castaways as they try to smuggle themselves into New York. The illegal passengers are the Indian Euripedes (who snuck aboard dressed as women), Angela (who gives her body to a sailor to insure safe passage), Carmen, the poet Carlos, and Tough Guy. While they endure the long unpleasant voyage, each of their pasts and their reasons for taking the risk unfold. Trouble brews when the Indian sneaks topside and is mortally wounded, leaving the others to decide whether or not to sacrifice everything and save him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This interesting bilingual comedy chronicles the effects of AIDS on a marriage. Maria and Jose are married. Trouble ensues when Jose strays with a tall, seductive blonde while he is at a conference. Throughout the opening scenes it is apparent that this is a low budget film. The English is appalling, and the boom mike keeps appearing during the scenes. Just as Jose begins making love to the blond, a man is seen watching a monitor. Another man appears and tries to pull away the sheet covering the lovers. He succeeds and the irate blond wraps the sheet around her and stalks out. Fortunately, the makeup girl is not as modest and assumes the blonde's role. The director is greatly relieved. The filming continues as Jose makes love to the adulteress. Afterward, he wakes up to find "Welcome to the world of AIDS" luridly scrawled across the mirror. Thus begins the two plotlines. On one hand, the film parodies the budding Mexican film industry. On the other, it presents a semi-serious story about AIDS, a disease that is infecting more married women in Mexico than anyone else. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lourdes Elizarraras, Luis Felipe Tovar, (more)
In the late 1960s and early '70s, the Mexican government endured a number of student riots, which it put down with overwhelming military force. Many were killed, and many more were injured. Only now is this long-suppressed history being allowed to be alluded to in Mexican movies. In this story, Lauro was a journalist covering the riots in 1971 when he is hit on the head and goes into a coma for almost twenty years. During that time, his children scathingly refer to him as "el bulto," (the baggage). However, despite the evident temptation to do so, they don't pull the plug on him, but visit his hospital room to bathe him, wash him, and cut his nails and hair on a regular basis. Somewhere near the end of that period, Lauro gradually awakens, and painfully undergoes the physical rehabilitation and, what is worse, an education in what has happened in the intervening years. When he went under, he was a leftist with liberal views. Now that he is awake, he wants everyone to obey him and takes a dim view of his wife's having had a boyfriend all these years. Needless to say, his old-line attitudes set him up for a rocky re-entry into his life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabriel Retes, Hector Bonilla, (more)
A desperate young couple flees the scene of a car accident that they caused in hopes of protecting their infant daughter, only to find their sanctuary isn't quite the safe house they expected it to be in this Spanish-language thriller from director Gabriel Retes. Now, as two sadistic bandits wander the hallways of the remote hotel seeking victims for their unspeakable crimes, the impoverished parents soon find that they may be forced to make amends for their transgression in the most painful manner imaginable. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Felipe Tovar, Carlos Chavez, (more)
- 1987
For some reason (probably the desire of the director to make a quick buck with a sexploitation film), the first thing the six pretty escaped ex-convicts do once they get to a desert island where treasure is buried is to take off as many clothes as possible. They have an uneasy relationship with a group of six male campers, who are also on the island, but they take the gayness of two of the male campers as an affront to their femininity, and they mark them out for death -- this, despite the fact that several of them are lesbians! After that, there is open warfare between the two rapidly diminishing groups. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tina Romero, Abel Woolrich, (more)
A small group of shipwrecked people find themselves in danger on a deserted island in this engaging adventure story based on a book by Emilio Salgari. After a sailor (Gonzalo Lora) is caught trying to steal some gold and jewels on the passenger liner Liguria, a fight starts that leads to an accidental fire, and the ship then explodes and sinks. Only four adults and three children manage to escape, landing on a deserted island that will ultimately provide them with enough food and fresh water to survive. Unknown to them, the crooked sailor who started it all and a captive he brought with him have landed on the opposite side of the island. It is only a matter of time before a confrontation happens -- meanwhile, the thief is the only one who knows where he buried the treasure he brought with him from the sunken ship.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tina Romero, Ignacio Retes, (more)
- 1978
On the thinnest of pretexts, a horde of homeless people descend on the apartments of two members of the comfortable middle class and proceed to loot and vandalize both homes, leaving the next morning with many of the belongings they found there, as well as one of the residents who has opted to join them. This political allegory is based on two plays by the Chilean playwright Egon Wolff. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ana Luisa Peluffo, Gabriel Retes, (more)
- 1978
When two filmmakers, from a hidden vantage point with the cameras rolling, witness what appears to be a murder, they flee the scene. After considering their position for some time, they decide to blackmail the well-known businessman who committed the crime. However, a series of mishaps results in their becoming victims. Also, even though the murdered woman's family receives the incriminating video, they are unable to do anything about it because of the great social and political influence of the killer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Manolo Fábregas, Tina Romero, (more)
- 1978
Set in the early 1900s, this film charts the rule of a Latin American dictator as he moves from being a charming despot to a tyrannical ruler before he is finally ousted, only to die in obscurity in Paris. Early in his regime, the resources and agricultural products his country sells command high prices, and he is a reasonably confident, even gentle, ruler who likes to take long vacations with his daughter in Paris. After World War I, with falling prices and a number of coup attempts behind him, his rule becomes quite cruel. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nelson Villagra, Katy Jurado, (more)
Gabriel Retes's period religious drama Nuevo Mundo (AKA The New World, 1978) concerns a 16th century Machiavellian priest who devises a wicked scheme to convert mass numbers of South Americans to Catholicism. He teams up with an artist to create an icon of an "Aztec Virgin Mary," reasoning that many indigenes will see the image and be induced into worshipping Mary and accepting Christianity. Aaron Hernan, Tito Junco, Juan Angel Martinez and Elpidia Carrillo co-star. The Vatican instantly objected to this film, and banned it for well over twenty years. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aaron Hernan, Tito Junco, Jr., (more)
- 1975
Chin Chin is a young drunkard. Somehow, despite having no visible means of support, he manages to hang around and scrape up the money to stay inebriated. One day, he corners a more sober youth into listening to a sad story, told in the third person. It seems that there once was a gang of young drunks who worked occasionally and partied frequently. One of them met and became engaged to a girl over the objections of her father. When he discovered the father was involved in drug deals and pederasty, something snapped; he did something angry and foolish. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlos Chavez
A man who has been mutilated in boyhood encounters numerous difficulties because of it. Jose Alonso plays a man whose lower limbs, including his sexual organs, were savaged by a Great Dane in boyhood. Unfortunately for him, his sex drive developed unabated and his frustration at being unable to culminate his relationships with women eventually drives him to drastic action because he has no alternative or compensating interests. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Alonso, Helena Rojo, (more)
