Fernando Sariñana Movies
- 2008
Director Fernando Sariñana and screenwriter Carolina Rivera craft this heartfelt drama about a teenage girl and an architect whose bravery after being stricken with cancer serves as an endless source of inspiration to their families and loved ones. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demián Bichir, Veronica Merchant, (more)
Mexican director Fernando Sarinana's comedy Charm School (aka Niñas Mal) represented the first feature to be produced by Columbia Films Producciones Mexico. This Spanish-language teen film follows the adventures of 18-year-old Adela (Martha Higareda), a terminal misfit whose parents ship her off to Mexico's only remaining preparatory school for young ladies. They want to prevent her misbehavior from standing in the way of her father's election as governor of Mexico City. Upon enrollment, Adela experiences an endless series of comically outrageous clashes with the school's headmistress. Camila Sodi and Blanca Guerra co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martha Higareda, Blanca Guerra, (more)
Inspired in part by the classic tale of Romeo & Juliet, Amar Te Duele stars Martha Higared and Luis Fernando Pena as a man and woman who must overcome many familial and societal prejudices in order to share their love with each other. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Adapted by writer/director Fernando Sariñana from the stories by Juan Madrid, Ciudades Oscuras (Dark Cities) tells a story of interwoven lives in the seedy underbelly of Mexico City. The several different story lines concern hooker Lola (Dolores Heredia); her drug addict son Fede (Diego Luna); her friend Zeze (Zaide Silvia Gutierrez); Zeze's daughter Susana (Jimena Ayala); and junkie Vicente (Roberto Sosa). Also on the scene are two corrupt cops (Alejandro Tommasi and Jesus Ochoa) and one good cop (Odiseo Bichir), while Chicken (Hector Suarez) and Casimiro (Alonso Echanove) each tell their separate stories to the same bartender (Demian Bichir). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alejandro Tommasi, Alonso Echanove, (more)
A thirty-something couple who met and married before the malaise of adulthood and responsibility took hold struggle to recapture the lost dreams of their youth in a romantic comedy starring Jesus Ochoa. Julia and Moises were idealistic and passionate when they exchanged their wedding vows, and they never imagined that their union would lead to a stagnant life of complacent mediocrity. Determined to re-ignite the passion that fueled their romance back in the beginning, the pair soon find their efforts complicated when Julia is pursued by a handsome young student activist. When Julia finds herself to giving in to the advances of her young pursuer, she soon finds that the affair may provide just the excitement needed to keep her marriage to Moises alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jésus Ochoa, Lisa Owen, (more)
Directed by Fernando Sariñana, Todo el poder centers around the politics and corruption that shroud the Mexican police system. Featuring Demián Bichir as Gabriel, a filmmaker whose career has left him assaulted and robbed in broad daylight more times than he cares to remember, the film itself was inspired by Sariñana's personal experience with urban crime oftentimes perpetrated by the police themselves. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
The violent lives of Mexican street kids are examined in this intense Mexican social drama that centers upon the friendship between two adolescents. Mauricio has come from Tijuana to Mexico city to visit El Boy. El Boy teaches Mauricio about life in the streets of Mexico's capital. El Boy kills a security guard at a small market and must leave the city and hide out. The opportunistic Mauricio betrays his friend by impersonating El Boy and selling Boy's aunt's mortgage papers to a fence. Still pretending to be El Boy, he then gets involved with a young woman who stays at the property. Unfortunately, El Boy returns and a major confrontation ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juan Manuel Bernal, Veronica Merchant, (more)
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)
