Carlos Cuarón Movies
Jose Luis Garcia Agraz's The Mystery of Trinidad starts when a 70-year-old man dies while searching for the remains of a Spanish ship that sank in the Gulf of Mexcio during the 1600s. He wills his boat to his son and his granddaughter. They soon decide to continue his goal of finding the ship, partly due to visits from the dead man's ghost. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eduardo Palomo, Rebecca Jones, (more)
Carlos Cuarón, who co-wrote the script for his brother Alfonso Cuarón's breakthrough hit, Y Tu Mamá También, makes his feature directorial debut with Rudo y Cursi. The film also reunites the stars of the earlier film, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, and is the first release from the production company Alfonso started with Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu, Cha Cha Chá. Rudo y Cursi depicts the changing relationship between two brothers who become soccer stars. Beto (Luna), the goaltender, is nicknamed "Rudo" because of his hard-nosed style of play, while Tato (Bernal), a forward, gets the nickname "Cursi" for his flamboyant goal celebrations and his flashy lifestyle. They both start out picking bananas in remote Tlachatlán, where they share a devotion to their mother. Then Batuta (Argentinean comic Guillermo Francella), a charmingly shiftless professional scout, happens by. He can only sign one of the brothers, so they battle it out on the pitch to see who gets his break. Instead of throwing the match to his brother as plan, Tato scores a goal and is on his way to stardom. He's more interested in becoming a pop star than a soccer star, but when he meets Maya (Jessica Mas), a famous TV hostess he's dreamed about for years, he begins to enjoy the trappings of fame. Meanwhile, resentful Beto waits for his chance. When he finally gets his break, he leaves his disapproving wife, Toña (Adriana Paz), and his kids to sneak off to Mexico City. The brothers' fortunes rise and fall, with Tato distracted by a demanding girlfriend and a hopeless singing career, while Beto deals with marital strife and a serious gambling problem. Rudo y Cursi had its New York Premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, (more)
- 2004
- R
- Add The Assassination of Richard Nixon to QueueAdd The Assassination of Richard Nixon to top of Queue
The true story of a man who, on February 22, 1974, was thwarted from an ambitious plan for political assassination provides the basis for this striking psychological drama. Sam Bicke (Sean Penn) is a salesman for an office-supply company whose life is slowly beginning to unravel. Bicke's job is going nowhere, his wife, Marie (Naomi Watts), has left him, and his boss (Jack Thompson) keeps pushing self-help books on him that make a mockery of his state of mind. One of Bicke's few friends is Bonny Simmons (Don Cheadle), an auto mechanic, and together they come up with an idea for a tire shop on wheels; while neither has the money to finance the project, Bicke has learned of a program for small-business loans instituted by President Richard Nixon, which he's certain will come through for him. But Bicke is denied his loan, which dovetails with his increasing suspicion of the president's Vietnam policies and a sudden interest in the "by any means necessary" political activism of the Black Panther Party. Desperate to seem important in some way, Bicke becomes increasingly obsessed with the duplicity of Richard Nixon, until he chooses to take it upon himself to stop the president once and for all. The Assassination of Richard Nixon was the first feature film from director Niels Mueller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, (more)
Mexican-born, New York-based filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón directed this Mexican box-office smash hit about a pair of randy upper-class buddies that sparked some controversy for its frank depiction of drug use and sexual exploration. With their respective girlfriends away in Europe, Julio (Gael García Bernal) and his upper-class friend Tenoch (Diego Luna) are looking forward to a summer full of drink, drugs, and cheap meaningless sex. During a wedding, they meet Luisa (Maribel Verdú) -- the 28-year-old wife of Tenoch's scholarly cousin -- and try to convince her to go on a road trip to Heaven's Mouth, a made-up beach paradise the two claim is on the Oaxacan coast. To their surprise, Luisa -- who is looking to escape her troubled life for a spell -- agrees to go along. Two days into the trip, tension starts to build between the two friends: Luisa has had sex with each, and now both lads are not-so-quietly vying for her affection. Soon simmering jealousies boil over into savage arguments, threatening to completely destroy their friendship. After an enormously successful run in Mexico and Guatemala, this film was screened to much acclaim at the 2001 Venice, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, (more)
