Claudette Maille Movies

Filmmaking duo Andres Leon Becker and Javier Solar took home top prize at the Guadalajara and Montreal Film Festivals for this visually inventive tale the warm relationship shared between a seven-year old girl and her single mother, and what becomes of their bond when the imaginative daughter becomes convinced that mom has been possessed by a vampire. Alicia and her mother live alone in a small apartment, yet despite the absence of a father figure, their close relationship between the pair provides all the emotional nourishment that a mother and her daughter could ever hope for. When mom unexpectedly comes home with one boyfriend, and then another, however, Alicia becomes convinced by a classmate that the depression and romantic problems that her mother are currently experiencing are a surefire sign that that a nefarious supernatural force is at work. Soon convinced that her sickly old neighbor is in fact a devious bloodsucker who has cast an evil spell on her once-happy mom, Alicia boldly determines to sneak into the apartment of the "vampire" and break the curse by placing a crucifix on the old man's chest. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man trying to clear his conscience of a terrible crime goes on a spiritual quest in this ambitious drama from Mexico. Damian Alcazar plays an American artist who was responsible for a hit-and-run accident. Unable to shake the burden of responsibility from his soul, the artist leaves behind his wife and travels to Mexico to visit the grave of his grandmother. Along the way, however, he decides this gesture is not enough, and abandoning his car and leaving sculptured offerings along the way, he makes his way into the mountains where he tries to find the cave paintings of Baja and discover a sense of spiritual peace. Bajo California: El Limite Del Tiempo/Under California: The Limit of Time was the directorial debut of former editor Carlos Bolado, who cut the international hit Como Agua Para Chocolate). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The son of one of Columbus' soldiers, Bartolomé de las Casas was educated at the University of Salamanca, taking a law degree there. In 1502 he joined conquistador Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo in what was then the largest military expedition ever to set sail from Spain. In 1510, he became the first man consecrated to the priesthood in the New World. He was 36 at the time. The next year he went along with the men who set out to occupy Cuba. There, he witnessed the brutal treatment and enslavement of that island's native people, including the execution of one of their great chiefs, a man whose life he tried to save. At the time of the early Spanish conquests, it was customary for the conquerors to take any natives they captured who survived the ordeal and give them as slaves to reward the conquerors, along with grants of land. The brutality of this practice, along with many similar ones, moved de las Casas to journey back to Spain to try and win support from the monarchy for more humane treatment of the indigenous people coming under the yoke of Spanish rule. Though he largely succeeded in his appeals to the monarch, eventually winning approval of an edict mandating better treatment, it was widely ignored by the military rulers of the New World colonies. Despite this, he devoted much of the rest of his life to improving conditions for "indios," or native people in the new Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and in Central America. This biographical drama is based on a play which celebrated the life of this pioneer, whose name is used today as a banner for indigenous peoples' rights movements throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Fr. de las Casas wrote several important works during these early days of the conquest, in particular his "Hístory of the Indies." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling novel by Laura Esquival, this internationally popular romantic fable from Mexico centers on a young woman who discovers that her cooking has magical effects. The tale's heroine, Tita, is the youngest of three daughters in a traditional Mexican family. Bound by tradition to remain unmarried while caring for her aging mother, Tita nevertheless falls in love with a handsome young man named Pedro. Pedro returns her affection, but he cannot overcome her family's disapproval, and he instead marries Tita's elder sister. The lovestruck young woman is brutally disappointed, and her sadness has such force that it infects her cooking: all who eat it her feel her heartbreak with the same intensity. This newly discovered power continues to manifest itself after the wedding, as Tita and Pedro, overcome by their denied love, embark on a secret affair. Director Alfonso Arau, Esquival's husband at the time, presents the acts of love and cooking with the same glossy, sensual sheen. Indeed, despite occasional digressions into a magical realist tone, the film often takes on the gloss of Hollywood romance. This combination of traditional melodrama and exotic fairy tale proved extremely popular with audiences, particularly in the United States, where it became one of the highest grossing foreign language films at the time. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide