Roberto Meyer Movies

Mexican comic "El Clavillazo," otherwise known as Antonio Espino stars in this film by José Morales-Díaz, yet another comedy in which Clavillazo plays himself, not unusual for many comedians. The title could be understood as referring to the U.S. since anything "north" in Mexican parlance has that connotation -- and the story is a parody of a Western. Clavillazo takes on the role of a sharp-shooting outlaw in the vein of a Jesse James or similar legends from the wild West. The script is too weak to sustain the talents of the cast, which counts famous singer Javier Solis among its number. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This Mexican-filmed black comedy (distributed in the U.S. seven years after its initial 1955 release date) is one of the minor but no less characteristic works of director Luis Buñuel. The film begins with Archibaldo (Ernesto Alonso) being triggered by a music box into a lengthy reminiscence of his childhood. It was an average, everyday incident, one that undoubtedly has occurred to us all: Archibaldo was caught dressing up in his mother's clothes by his governess, who was then instantly killed by a revolutionary's bullet before she could tell on him. The experience proved to be Archibaldo's "first rush," and he spends the rest of his life trying to re-create the sexual euphoria of that moment -- by murdering attractive women. Buñuel's characteristic perverse black humor then adds a twist, which prevents Archibaldo from fulfilling his desires. Perverse, but darkly funny, Ensayo de un Crimen is a slyly shocking delight. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In El, it is director Luis Bunuel's contention that uncontrollable insanity can grow within even the most rational of men. Spanish aristocratic Arturo de Cordova, outwardly the picture of courtly charm, marries lovely Delia Garces, who is much younger than he. From the honeymoon onward, Cordova imagines that his bride's former lover is spying on them. At first his jealousy manifests itself in short bursts of violence against phantom intruders. But the middle-aged groom's lunacy blossoms, until he is prepared to literally sew his young bride up lest she be accessible to others. Bunuel alternates Cordova's disintegration with his standard attacks upon Catholicism; the church can offer nothing to this unhappy man but empty homilies, leaving him no choice but to lie to himself that he is "cured"--knowing deep down that he never will be. Historian William K. Everson hit the nail on the head when he described El as "the most clinical dissection yet of a paranoic's descent into total madness". Another critic has succinctly described the protagonist as "an Othello with the hero as his own Iago." El, which literally translates as "He", has been released in some markets as This Strange Passion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi