Drama/Mex - Blockbuster New Releases Information

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Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA) –

  

  

“Drama/Mex” tells of three everyday people in Acapulco whose lives intersect over the course of a two-day period. The characters include an attractive young woman named Fernanda (Diana Garcia), who’s having trouble deciding whether to stay with her current beau (Juan Pablo Castaneda) or to return to her thieving cad of an ex-boyfriend (Emilio Valdes); a middle-aged business man named Jaime (Fernando Becerril), who’s contemplating suicide as a way out of his unhappiness (there`s a hint that he might be having an incestuous relationship with either his daughter or stepdaughter); and a half naïve/half streetwise girl named Tigrillo (Miriana Moro), who’s in the process of learning how to rip off rich, male tourists for fun and profit. The last two characters meet when Tigrillo slips into Jaime’s beachside motel room to steal his wallet right at the moment that he has a loaded gun to his head. Together, these two people with relatively little in common beyond their happening to be at the same place at the same time, manage to forge an unlikely relationship that defies easy labeling.

“Drama/Mex” is a homespun, slice-of-life drama that isn’t obsessed with making big dramatic gestures or revealing grand universal truths about human nature. Instead, it simply introduces us to its characters and lets their stories play out naturally, with very little manipulation or fanfare. Though the narrative is clearly contrived to some extent, the film still manages to capture the random nature of life as we live it. The characters don’t necessarily “learn” anything from their experiences – but they do emerge from those experiences, to some degree or another, “changed” people, willing to look at their lives from a decidedly different vantage.

Superb performances (especially by Becerril and Moro) and direction (by Gerardo Naranjo, who also wrote the screenplay), and a refusal to tie everything up into a neat little bow at the end add to the movie`s overall quality and appeal.

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K. Harris “Film aficionado” (Albuquerque, NM) –

  

  

Amidst one day in Acapulco, two sexually charged stories intertwine together in the Mexican film “Drama/Mex.” With plot threads meant to provoke, it’s easy to dismiss “Drama/Mex” as an overheated melodrama. But the (mostly) young cast brings a believability to the general feeling of being morally adrift in the big city. The primary negative criticism that I had heard leveled against this film was that none of its central characters were remotely likable. I don’t feel that is necessarily true in the strictest sense, but they certainly act with a selfishness and impetuousness that might distance them from certain viewers. The notion of disaffected youth, however, is not a new concept in film–so I really didn’t find it hard to identify with the characters in “Drama/Mex.” For me, the day-in-the-life concept played well–even if, ultimately, there wasn’t a grand meaning to be taken from it all.

In one thread, a young couple reunite in a torrid affair. Making plans to run off has one obstacle, however. The girl’s current boyfriend isn’t any too keen about the notion. As the night progresses heatedly, everyone must make a decision as the trio experience a number of emotional confrontations. The other plot point concerns a suicidal businessman and an underage girl who is hustling at the beach as they form a tentative friendship. It’s an odd pairing, and certainly one that my cause an uncomfortable feeling, but somehow this unlikely duo may hold the power to redeem one another. Overall, the cast did a nice job with the material presented.

If I have any reservations about “Drama/Mex” is that it doesn’t really dig into the psychology of its characters. The viewer is left to make any assessments on purely surface behavior. This is noticeably problematic in terms of the older businessman character. He engages in some pretty unsavory acts, but is not depicted (by the film) in an especially negative light. I’d have liked very much to explore his character, in particular, with a bit more depth. At the end of the film, everyone has reached a new place–but has anyone really changed? There is no discernable character arc. So while I may has been fascinated by a night of debauchery and bad acts, I was a bit unmoved due to an emotional distance from the characters. Worth seeing, for sure, but I don’t think “Drama/Mex” will linger in my memory as a “must see.” KGHarris, 1/11.

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“Drama/Mex” is directed by Gerardo Naranjo, Diego Luna & Gaél García Bernal and they’ve created a real “obra maestra”…the story in it reflects for sure the life of the actual mexican youth between Mexico City and Acapulco, full of emotions, magnific music and beautiful colored scenes…dive in into the mexican vida!

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