Gustavo Bueno

The romantic drama Polvo Enamorado tells the tale of Natalia, a young woman who is wedded to the mayor of her Peruvian village. Having once aspired to become a nun, Natalia only married the man because he promised they would never have to consummate their marriage. Natalia learns that her husband has been sedating and raping her around the same time that a new priest arrives in town. She and the priest are drawn to each other, forcing him to question his devotion to his life in the church. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Directed by Francisco J. Lombardi, Ojo que no ven (What the Eye Doesn't See) follows several fictional story lines set against a backdrop of the real-life collapse of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's regime. There's Colonel Revoredo (Gianfranco Brero), who knows he'll be lucky to escape the country with his life, let alone military status; lawyer Penaflor del Aguila (Gustavo Bueno), whose knack for bribing corrupt officials is now useless; and Mercedes (Melania Urbina), a teenage girl desperately trying to settle the legal and medical situations of her older family members, to name a few. Meanwhile, Helena (Patricia Pereyra), a forensic anthropologist, is raped inside of a mass gravesite, while her husband, unbeknownst to her, is assassinated. Less serious affairs reside inside of a hospital, where two elderly patients quarrel over the current state of affairs, and within a television station, where an overworked makeup artist gets a rude awakening of sorts. Though the characters' situations are vastly different, a common thread -- the fall of the government as they knew it -- unites them, and leads to a consequence none were prepared for. The film also features Paul Vega, Tatiana Astengo, Martin Chauca, Don Lucho, Rodolfo Lopez, and Jorge Rodriguez Paz. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A man studying to be a writer learns some unpleasant lessons about himself in this drama. Alfonso (Giovanni Ciccia) is an aspiring novelist who, as part of his scholarship to a writing program, must take an internship at a tabloid newspaper alongside his girlfriend Nadia (Lucia Jimenez). While Nadia is given a simple office assignment, Alfonso is made an assistant to one of the paper's top writers, Faundez (Gianfranco Brero), which turns out to be a demanding job. With his driver Van Gogh (Carlos Gassols) and his photographer Escalona (Fele Martinez), Faundez heads out each day to collect stories through intimidation and emotional manipulation, and he has no qualms about using sources for his own purposes or passing along stories to his less-industrious significant other, Roxanna (Ynonne Frayssinet). While Alfonso is appalled by Faundez's shaky ethics and cavalier attitude toward women, it also begins to sink in, and when circumstances force Alfonso to take over for Faundez for a while, he's surprised to discover how much he's come to resemble the man he despises. Tinta Roja was based on the novel by Alberto Fuguet. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In each of the three tragic stories in this film, set in Lima, Peru, the people in them are as haphazardly related to their lives and the world around them as if they had Fallen From The Sky. In the first, an elderly couple is so determined to have a magnificent burial that they sell or hock everything they own for a grand mauseleum to be built. Meanwhile, they have nothing left to live on, and they are taken to an old folk's home. In the second, the result of the gift of a piglet to a woman living in a shanty is that she devotes all of her time and energy to fattening the pig, and fails to note that her children are sick and starving. In the third, a defomed man who earns his living by announcing on the radio saves a girl from committing suicide, and though the two develop a relationship eventually, it does not turn out well. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This South American melodrama was released in English-speaking countries as The Lion's Den. The film's backdrop is the long (and to some, never-ending) period of civil unrest in Peru. Government troops are pinned down by enemy fire in a remote Peruvian village. The tension is unbearable as the troops wonder when and where the communist guerillas will strike next. Comparisons to Vietnam are not only welcomed but openly encouraged. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide