Alberto Estrella Movies

A young man aggressively seeks an escape from his restrictive life -- and finds one in a unique girlfriend -- in this tense romantic thriller from Mexico. As the wealthy, handsome, and intelligent heir to Vizcaino, Inc. -- a banking conglomerate launched by his high-rolling father Ricardo (Sergio Jurado) -- Alejandro Vizcaino (Jose Maria de Tavira) appears to have everything he could want or need. But in truth, Ricardo is thoroughly corrupt and rotten, and controls every single aspect of Alejandro's life and world -- from how he dresses, to what he eats, to who he will marry. Alejandro grows so suffocated from this treatment, and so desperate, that his need to escape propels him into a dangerous drag racing feat, and causes an extreme accident. Shaken but physically unharmed, Alejandro rejects his life in one sudden and swift maneuver by fleeing town. He ends up in an impoverished beachside community, popular among locals for its surfing, and his eyes soon fall on Rosa (Martina Garcia), the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on. By Ricardo's standards, Rosa falls well below Alejandro's social class, but Alejandro doesn't care; he seeks Rosa out and the two fall madly in love with one another. Unfortunately, Rosa lives under the oppressive thumb of a local gangster, El Tigre (Alberto Estrella), which means that Alejandro will be putting his life on the line if he attempts to abscond with his new paramour. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The action crime film Destino Cholo tells the tale of Santana, a drug-dealer who attempts to make one last deal in order to have enough money to raise his children in peace. When the deal goes wrong, his family ends up murdered. Vowing revenge, Santana agrees to act as an undercover agent for the police in order to bring down his enemies. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Santitos is a character-driven comedy about a young Mexican woman who has to come to terms with the loss of her teenage daughter. Esperanza's daughter Blanca suddenly and mysteriously dies in the hospital where she was having her tonsils removed. Shortly afterward, the vision of a saint appears on the greasy glass door of the oven, telling Esperanza that Blanca is not dead. Despite warnings from her best friend and the local priest, she embarks on an incredible journey across the country and over the border that helps her shed her inhibitions one by one. Out comes a different Esperanza, a liberated independent woman who is also sexually uninhibited. Santitos was screened as part of the Filmmakers of the Present section of the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

This second feature from writer-director Francisco Athie (Lolo) carries a stylish cyber-candescence throughout, courtesy of techno-twists added by production designer Chu Uroz (cables, surveillance cameras, TV monitors, and other electronic gear). Athie's tense politico-thriller begins with a trade-union chief's murder. His Brazilian mistress Claudia is framed, with bumbling Magana on as her defense lawyer and reporter Marco doing a journalistic investigation. As it becomes evident that both Magana and Marco are pawns and Claudia's innocent former lover is set up as the murderer, the web of intrigue expands. Shown at the 1998 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A thespian's greatest role becomes a tragic parallel to real life in this drama. Gilberto Cortes (Alberto Estrella) is a Mexican actor who is raising a young son, Mario (Imanol), on his own. After years of struggle, Gilberto is beginning to achieve success in a play called "The Black Flag," in which he plays a father trying to spare his son's life after the young man is sentenced to death. While Gilberto's star begins to rise, Mario is emotionally scarred after he falls victim to a child molester, and the boy is never the same again. After leaving home in his teens, Mario (now played by Abraham Ramos) relocates to Texas, where he begins attending college. Difficult circumstances befall Mario, and he is convicted of a crime that carries the death penalty in Texas, and Gilberto finds he must reenact in real life the role he perfected on stage -- that of a father pleading for the life of his son. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The murder of a taxi dancer and her pimp provide the motivation for this crime melodrama, a remake of Emilio Fernandez's famed Salon Mexico. Set in the '30s, the crime occured in a popular Mexico City dance hall with the bodies being discovered in the dressing room of the dancer, Mercedes. Beside her lay her sleazy lover Paco. Police inspector Castellon is set on the case and begins questioning every one who knew the couple including Paco's other girl friend Almendrita, Mercedes' daughter Laura, her closest friend La Jaibita and the policeman who wanted to marry the dancer. He even talks to composer Aaron Copland who has been frequenting the hall while writing his Salon Mexico Suite. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Mexican film, loosely based on Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's 1940's book, traces the slow and painful collapse of a Mexican family after the sudden death of the father. Much of the film focuses upon the outcomes of two disparate brothers. Following his death, the formerly middle-class Botero family is left destitute. To pay their debts, the mother Ignacia throws the oldest son Guama who does not pull his weight at home, out into the street where he becomes a full-time drug addict, pimp, and bouncer. Guama is doomed right from the start. Ignacia then forces Nicolas and sister, Mireya to give up their bright futures in favor of brother, Gabriel, Ignacia's favorite. The selfish Gabriel is a law student and Ignacia has placed all the family's hopes upon him. Nicolas must leave school and take a peon's job. Mireya works at a sweat-shop and eventually becomes a hooker. Gabriel gets himself into a situation that jeopardizes his potential career. To protect it he cons one of siblings into covering for him. That sibling commits suicide. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford, the producing team responsible for the theatrical-movie "sleeper" The River's Edge, were the mentors of the made-for-TV Seeds of Tragedy. Filmed in semi-documentary fashion, the story involves a single cache of cocaine, from creation to consumption. The coca leaves are initially harvested by poor farmers in the Peruvian Andes. The coca moves forward to a small-time Amazon trader; then it is powdered under the supervision of a Colombian gangster, and finally it winds up on the mean streets of LA. Partially filmed in Mexico with a cast of relative unknowns, Seeds of Tragedy was an unusually potent entry in the Fox Network's "Monday Night Movie" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide