EMILIA PEREZ(2024) NYFF 2024

This is the story of an attorney who is hired by the head of a Mexican drug cartel to help him transition into becoming a woman and what happens after that. It is a musical drama thriller with a strong thread of social commentary. It is also probably unlike anything you have ever seen. It is a glorious filmmaking and a wonderful cinematic experience.

I honestly don't know what I think of this film. It is such an odd mix of styles and forms seemingly tied up in a telenovela form that not everything hits. Yes it's all extremely well done, but the film's one of a kind construction causes some bumps. This isn't the result of it being a musical, its much more complicated than that, rather it's doing so much more that I'm not certain it makes all of the connections it could or should.

That is not a knock, rather statement that I am having to take time to ponder this new form.

The filmmaking is masterful and Jacques Audiard  needs to get a best director nomination at the Oscars and everywhere else. I say this because he has made a film that shouldn't logically work, but instead wows the audience and leaves them feeling alive even if they aren't sure of how they feel about pieces of it.

The cast is great. Everyone sells their roles. It anyone had any doubts about the range of Selena Gomez or Zoe Saldana as actresses this film will put that to rest.

This film is a stunner and my lack of discussion is purely due to the fact that I'm still processing it.

Go see this film.

Brief thoughts on Lazaro At Night (2024) NYFF 2024 Toronto 2024

Three friends all try to get the same acting job. Afterward they get together and discus when they first met.

Dry art house comedy is not going to be for all audiences. Its a low key film  about largely bland people. Well except for Lazaro who is a bit of dick. He's the sort of a guy  you wonder how he he has any friends. 

To be honest I didn't much care for this. I kept  waiting for something exciting to happen or for me to feel something for someone on screen. it never happened.

For art house hounds only.

MEXICO 86 (2024) Locarno 2024

 

Director Cesar Diaz tells a story based on his own life about a woman who is forced to leave her son with her mother because she has to flee the country because of her anti-government activities. Ten years later, she returns to take her son back after her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

This is is a film that will sneak up on you and leave you teary. The final shots broke my heart. This is a wonderful look at the love of a mother for her child and the things that they sometimes have to do to keep them safe.

This maybe one of the most perfect films I've seen. Everything works from top to bottom, with the cast all worthy of Oscars or any other acting award you can think of. Yea there are highs and lows, but it's all part of the rhythms of the tale. 

I was going to just try the film to see how it was and then the next thing I knew the end credits were rolling and I was mopping tears.

That's a rave.

One of the most unexpected and wonderful cinematic discoveries of the year.

See this film

PÁRVULOS (2024) Fantasia 2024

I want to just say "Don't read any reviews-Just buy a ticket and go see PARVULOS". I say that because the film changes and changes and changes and while you will know where a bit of this is going- you won't know it all and it will punch you in your face like a boxing glove filled with cement.

The plot, or as much as I am going to say, concerns three brothers after a plague has ravaged the world. Lots of people are dead and the brothers are living in the wilderness trying very hard not to have any contact with anyone.

That's all I will say about the plot....

...about everything else I will say that director Isaac Ezban's film is a wicked little gem. It's a film that is very much about family. It is a family drama disguised as a horror film. The horror stuff is merely the window dressing for a film about the love of three brothers. It's a film that soars because Ezban stays focused on the characters and lets us watch how they are forced to fight for each other as things happen. 

I know, I know many of you want to know how it is as a horror film. It's really good, but it's more a thriller than a straight on horror film. Yes, there are horror elements but as I said the film is more interested in other things.

Shot with a deliberate use of lens and muted color palate that beautifully put us in a time and place. It's a film where the images set the mood almost as much as the story. I wasn't sure about some of the way Izban used certain lens, but it grew on me, more so when I realized how off the images were making me feel- they were dragging me down the rabbit hole.

I'm sorry if this a bit rambling and disjointed but this is a film you need to see and not read about. The power of this film comes from taking the journey from first fframe to the last. It's a film where how the revelations are made affect how you feel. It's a film where you have to go with where it wants to take you because the film is not what you think it is. Nothing is as you suspect, and I don't want to give you any clues about what happens beyond what Ezban has allowed us to know.

Trust me on this, PARVULOS is a stunner... more to the point it's destined to be consider a classic.

State of Silence (2024) Tribeca 2024

This is a look at the open season on journalists in Mexico as the cartels, business men and the government hunt and kill anyone who opposes them.

Disappointing and uniforming this film should be a warning to viewers about the dangers of an unchecked  government and corruption and crime instead it is a collection of the names of reporters with no clear indication of what they were covering when they were killed or threatened. Watching the film I found myself hopelessly lost as there was no explanation a to who anyone was or what we are really seeing.

I suspect that if you know about current events in Mexico this film may make some sense, but comeing from the outside I was totally lost.

RAIN (2023) Miami Film Festival 2024

If you want to see the first film of the next director from Mexico to win an Oscar the see Rodrigo García Saiz's RAIN which is playing at the Miami Film Festival. Looking and feeling like the work of a seasoned director, the film has the assured hand that rivals the work of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro.

I know that sets up impossible expectations but take into account the way the film makes you feel and if you really watch how the film is crafted you will see that Rodrigo García Saiz is going to do great things.

The film is six interconnected stories all taking place over a rain soaked 24 hours. It begins in the rain when cab driver picks up a rider who gives him his own address as a destination. From there we move between the various stories which bring us into the lives of various people who are trying to get past an unexpected turn in their lives. 

I was moved. 

While some of the stories are not as perfect as others, all of them hold us tight in their grip. This is due to craft of filmmakers being directed by  Saiz, but also a cast that is among the best ensemble  casts of the last ten years.  This is as good as casting can get. Everyone nails  their role and you can feel their lives bleeding off the screen.

When the film was done I started to reach out to some of my friends. I had to get more eyes on this film because there is something special here.

You need to see this.

Sujo (2024) First Look Fest 2024

Father and son

Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez the team behind one of 2020's best films IDENTIFYING FEATURES return with SUJO the story of one young man's potential slide into oblivion.

The plot of the film concerns a young man named Sujo. He is the son of a cartel hit man who is left orphaned when his father is gunned down. He moves in with an aunt who lives like a hermit. However, because Sujo is a growing boy life has its pull and it seems as though he may be headed for a life in the cartels that destroyed his father.

A quiet and haunting film SUJO is a very good follow up to Rondero and Valadez's IDENTIFYING FEATURES. That film, about a mother's search for the son that crossed into the US, was the first film in 2020 to kick my ass. It was a powerful film I desperately tried to get people to see at Sundance and New Directors New Films. With SUJO the  ladies have made a film that is equally haunting.

Mixing a cinematic reality with a hint of something more SUJO is a film very much about life and fate. There is a mystical side to things such as when the deceased father of Sujo appears to his sister in law. We are in a definite place where things beyond the normal can and do happen. This is not to suggest this is a haunted film, rather one where spiritual things do exist.

The cast is across the board wonderful. Watching them there is a very real sense that they are drawing from their lives. As a result we are carried along by their truth no matter what happens.

If I maybe allowed to quibble with SUJO it would be to say that the film meanders a bit. There were a couple of times, in particular in the first half, where the pacing seems slack. My attention drifted. I came back around and the film still kicked my butt, however I still think if the film was a couple minutes shorter it would have had a bigger punch.

Quibble aside, SUJO  is a haunting film.  See it when it plays near you.

2023 Catch up reviews: L'IMMENSITA and TOTEM

L'IMMENSITA
Penelope Cruz stars as a mother who, in the 1970's,  moves with her family to Rome for a better life and finds life and complications. 

Good soapy family drama that is based on director Emanuele Crialese life. It is story filled with life and change. The film's one problem is that the film has too much going on. Between the trans story line, the dysfunctional family, the shifting of life in Rome and so much more. It feels spread thin at times. It's not bad, just too short to cover everything it wants to cover.

TOTEM (2023) 
The course of a day for Sol, a young girl whose family is getting ready for her father's birthday. It's going to be a huge party that Sol's father may or may not attend since he is struggling with a debilitating form of cancer.

Shot in academy ratio  this is a film that puts you up close an personal, with many shot long take close ups. Its a film that borders on being a documentary. 

While the film was extremely well done it didn't completely connect to me. While I wanted to see how this played out, I never stopped feeling the director moving here pieces.

Reservations aside it's worth a look.

Robe of Gems (2022) opens today at BAM

Natalia López Gallardo first film as director is a hard film to describe. Following a number of people in Mexico who end up looking for a missing person in the country.

While absolutely a beautiful film, with some stunningly stage sequences and images that burn into your brain for all time, ROBE OF GEMS is narratively confused. Gallardo strives very hard to make a film that you have to work with  but ends up making a film that isn't very clear.  Watching the film I stopped it a couple of times to look at material on the film in the hope of finding something that I felt a I missed and didn't catch by replaying a sequence or two.

This is a film that is very much about something- though it's not completely clear what that is. Actually this is a film that is clearer when you read the official material- which for me is a big no no, since it is my feeling everything we need should be on the screen.

A beautiful and visually haunting miss that has hung with me since I saw it last year on the festival circuit.

SPINNING (2023) Tribeca 2023

While spinning on a balcony a woman accidentally drops a weight...killing a man below. If only she can retrieve the weight...

Wickedly funny and suspensefully uncomfortable short is a a great deal of fun. I had no idea how this was going to go which made it so much fun. While I normally prefer my shorts to remain short, I would be curious how this would work as a feature.

What a wonderfully poisoned confection.

Gods Of Mexico (2022)

 

GODS OF MEXICO must be seen on a big screen. Full of stunning image after stunning image this is one of the most visual arresting films of the year.

The film is a portrait of various regions of Mexico. It is told via sound and image, and I don't remember any dialog. It is told in the form of a visual essay with images both real and surreal, color and black and white.

You will forgive me if I keep my comments brief but GODS OF MEXICO is not a film easily described. It is a film that you must experience for yourself since it is a film that is pure emotion and visceral reaction. This is a film you watch and listen to, allowing it to wash over you and trigger your endorphins and centers of wide eyed wonder. Words don't enter into it since the place you end up when the end credits roll is a place beyond them.

This is a magnificent film you must see big and loud.

Pondering PINOCCHIO (2022) or Guillermo del Toro's Life of Christ (Spoilers)

I have a weird relationship with Guillermo Del Toro. I adore him as a director and a speaker. I love the ideas he comes up with and I love listening to him talk movies. He is someone I want to sit down with to just talk movies- all movies. On the other hand I tend not to like his movies. I love the idea of them, I love pieces of them, but outside of his early films (HELLBOY, BLADE, SPIECES) I tend to be disappointed with his films as complete films. I know part of it is that by the time I see the films they tend to be over hyped. Time and again I tend to sit down to watch and not see the wonder everyone else has found. Additionally I find his original material takes these odd turns that make me wonder WTF he was thinking.(His films based on other mediums play better)

My weird relationship with the man’s films aside I was looking forward to seeing his current film PINOCCHIO. I was thrilled to get to be invited to MOMA to see the exhibition and then film and crushed when a meeting prevented my leaving work in time to go. I knew I was going to love the film.

I was so sure I would love the film that I got up early on December 9 to see it before I went to work.

And now that I’ve seen it I’m not entirely sure what I think.

The problem for me is not that the film is bad. It is not. It is in fact one of del Toro's best films, and his scariest horror film by a million miles. I think it continues to prove that he is best when working from an existing source rather than going it alone since the stories he tells without someone else's framework tend to end up messy as he throws in cool things and twists that don't always work. Yes I love the imagination, but I am more often then not left scratching my head.

The problem here is the additions and deletions that del Toro made to the material. Why did he make so many changes to an existing story if he was still going to call it Pinocchio?

What are the changes? Geppetto  is not just a wood carver but a grieving father angry at the death of his son in a bombing during World War One. Pinocchio isn't a puppet, but literally Christ coming into people's lives to change them (and yes he comes back from the dead, repeatedly).  The time is not the 19th century but 1940's Italy during the Second World War.  The island of Lost Boys is a training facility for child soldiers. I'm not saying any of the changes are bad unto themselves but why are they in this story? His doing so alters the themes and ideas of the original tale (which he is allowed to do) But it causes weird ripples such as with the Island of Lost Boys sequence where thematically we are no longer looking at the boys (ourselves) changing because of the bad things that we do, rather it becomes we are destroyed by our fathers (literally). Which would be fine except it crashes weirdly into the notions of fathers and sons that we have between Geppetto and Pinocchio (And god and only begotten son). 

Truthfully I'm  still wrestling with the shoehorning of the life of Christ. Its not a question of belief or disbelief but thematically including it makes it go all sorts of loopy.  This isn't a question of something like GREASER PALACE where Christ comes to the old west,  but this is the mashing together or two stories with differing themes. I know I'll need time and multiple viewings to work it out but the story of a boy trying to find himself (this is a different shade of what a "real" boy is)  crashing into the story of an innocent Christ like figure saving the souls of everyone he meets is at times awkward. And it's not because the themes and threads don't go he together, rather it is because del Toro doesn't meld them together well enough so that we don't bring in the the ideas from the earlier/original versions. (Honestly I would love to see what a del Toro lensed Christ film would be.)

I don't know.  Is this Pinocchio or is this the life of Jesus? The mashing of stories leaves me not certain about how to really feel or think despite being moved by the conclusion.

For me the mix of original fairy tale, religious allegory , and new edgy material has a slight feeling of trying to make a commercial project that people will notice, rather than just telling the story del Toro wanted to tell. Then again he riffs on himself so much on the film it's not surprising that yet again we have a story set in a fascist state and  missing parents/children. And yes I know he is making a point about the modern world with the fascism and the greedy Count exploiting Pinocchio out of his money, but couldn't he have done so without reaching back into his greatest hits? He has hit so many of these notes before that it kind of feels lazy.

And as much as I like the film (did I say this is probably del Toro's best horror film?) beyond the changes, there are other things that don't work for me. The songs, while not bad, are more a distraction than anything. Yes, they allow for some great animated sequences, but outside of when Pinocchio performs they serve zero purpose. Pinocchio is, in his early appearance an insufferable twit. I hated him (his birth song is especially bad) and given the chance I would have tossed him in the fire during the first half of the film. Yes, he gets better but I really wanted him dead for a good part of the movie.

I also have trouble with del Toro's plotting, especially towards the end. If you know me I almost always think that del Toro's films lose their way in the final run to the credits. Here it is the case where del Toro refashions the Island of Lost Boys into a military training facility to make child soldiers for the dictatorship. While it does allow for some scary moments (and the death of hundreds of kids in an Allied bombing- this is a really dark film) it doesn't feel organic as del Toro seems to fumbling to keep this Pinocchio close to the book while wanting to take it in new directions. From there the plotting goes wonky as  we get some great horror /action sequences and Pinocchio being crucified (just in case you missed all the Christ references before) before we get the cheat we all knew was coming when the Blue Fairy first appeared. I hate that we know what part of the ending will be at the start.  Much of the last half hour while not mechanical, felt like the film it was things being moved around in order to get us to the one moment.

That said the actual ending beyond the cliched moment moved me beyond tears into actual sobbing. And it delighted me further because the film didn't end as expected. It is del Toro's most moving and best conclusion in any of his films.

Yes despite all the bitching above I do like the film, but as you can see I have issues. Its good enough that I will be seeing it again several more times down the road.

After one viewing do I think that this is as great as some have said over the last few months? In pieces, it is. It really is one of the best animated films of the year, but I wouldn't say it was the best. Is it the best version of the story? I'm not sure. Some of the others work better as a whole but they don't have the sequences that this film does.

Is it worth seeing?

Absolutely. Though Parents might want to see it before plopping their young kids down since there is a darkness that isn't in any Hollywood produced animated films.

Punta Sinistra (2022) Fantasia 2022

A journalist decides to hunt a mythical plane that went down on the coast of Mexico. Supposedly it was transporting a cartel cargo. However he quickly realizes he’s in over his head as he realizes that there are other people looking for the plane and they will stop at nothing to get it.

If you are willing to go with the restrictions of the microbudget (the guns don’t actually fire, the plane doesn’t fly) this is a solid little thriller. Running a breezy 63 minutes PUNTA SINISTRA move like the wind as it everyone seems to be up to no good. Kudos to director Renaud Gauthier for making a film that makes no excuses and simply tells the fest story he can. Frankly had the material from Fantasia not mentioned the micro budget I wouldn’t have noticed chaulking any issues to a stylistic choice.

I you want to see a small gem, this film is for you.

The Big Bad Wolf and Stinky the Skunk return in The Queens Swordsman aka The Happy Musketeers (1961)

This film in the series of films featuring the Big Bad Wolf and the skunk Stinky, is not only probably the best of the bunch but a good film on it's own terms.

For those unfamiliar with the Wolf and Stinky films, they first appeared in a telling of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD where they were more comic relief then real threat, They then appeared in the various sequels (RED RIDING HOOD AND HER FRIENDS, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND TOM THUMB alternately LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE MONSTERS) where they were really the focus of the films. The series was released in the US by K Gordon Murray who dubbed them and had them play weekend kiddie engagements and on TV on Saturday and Sunday afternoon where they warped generations of children. I caught them on TV as a kid and was forever scarred enough to spend decade searching them out.

This time out Stinky and the Wolf are raising a child they found lost in the woods. Years have passed and as the infant has grown the pair realize that they need more than they can provide living in the woods so they go to town and end up as musketeers for the king and queen. They are instrumental in helping to save the kingdom from a take over.

Playing more like a historical swashbuckler with a skunk and Wolf in the lead than a kids film THE QUEEN'S SWORDSMAN is a really a grand adventure. Filled with action and intrigue this would have been a classic film had they simply removed the two costumed leads with real people.  Frankly this is rather an adult film since so many people actually die.  You could never release this film now because the family groups would have a fit.

The key to enjoying this film is getting past the fact that the film's leads are two people in ill fitting costumes who have been oddly dubbed. Its a weird experience watching everyone interact with these odd characters but if you've seen the other films in the series you know to just go with it simply because the films are so much fun.

The film like the others in the series are must sees for anyone who loves cinema.  They are truly wonderful pieces of crazy ass fantasy from an innocent time (hell, no one blinks when a live alligator is put in a bed with a little kid) that film lovers must see....

...sadly I don't think the films are available legally in the US.  I know Something Weird had released them on VHS years ago  but I believe at some point the K Gordon Murray estate put a stop to that and  they have been camping down on streaming releases. I could be wrong, but I know when I originally covered some of the films in 2011 the only way to get the films were the collectors market. And if memory serves I was told that some grand release of all of the films was coming by the estate who thought they could make a mint- except that the films had been out of circulation out side of Something Weird for thirty years so two generations of film fans had no idea what these films were. I haven't tried to chase down the status since then so that could all be wrong. (Please feel free to correct me in the comments)

You have to track this and the other films in the sequence down, get some friends, some drinks and popcorn and go crazy on a Saturday night.

Actually what I would love is for a film festival like New York to do is a small side bar of these whacked out films so they get back into the discussion....

Robe of Gems (2022) NDNF 2022

Natalia López Gallardo first film as director is a hard film to describe. Following a number of people in Mexico who end up looking for a missing person in the country.

While absolutely a beautiful film, with some stunningly stage sequences and images that burn into your brain for all time, ROBE OF GEMS is narratively confused. Gallardo strives very hard to make a film that you have to work with  but ends up making a film that isn't very clear.  Watching the film I stopped it a couple of times to look at material on the film in the hope of finding something that I felt a I missed and didn't catch by replaying a sequence or two.

This is a film that is very much about something- though it's not completely clear what that is. Actually this is a film that is clearer when you read the official material- which for me is a big no no, since it is my feeling everything we need should be on the screen.

A beautiful and visually haunting miss.

Liz Whittemore on WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (2022) SXSW 2022

Liz Whittemore of  Reel News Daily is back with her thoughts on WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND, a film I'll be reviewing for the Museum of the Moving Images First Look Fest at the end of the week.

What We Leave Behind is not only Iliana Sosa‘s documentary feature debut but also a loving ode to her grandfather. SXSW22 audiences follow an intimate portrait of the family patriarch in his final years. Tirelessly loyal to his family, Julián Moreno endured monthly 17-hour bus rides from his home in Primo de Verdad to El Paso. He did everything in his power to show his loved ones how much they meant to him. Sosa documents her grandfather’s trips into town, his morning routine, and the construction of a new family home from the ground up. She takes what might seem mundane and creates personal magic. Her sporadic voiceovers add an unexpected but soul effecting layer to the narrative. Alongside this device, she captures the life-breath of Mexico and its everyday hum. It is fair to say that I was weeping at the end. Along her journey to know her grandfather, Sosa invites us to be another member of her family.

For more godness from Liz and the others at Reel News Daily go here.

The excellent The Other Tom (2021) opens Neighboring Scenes 2022

 

THE OTHER TOM is a kick in the ass. 

The film is the story of Elena, a young mother who  is having trouble with her son. He is diagnosed with ADHD and is promptly put on meds. However the meds make the boy into a zombie and a mere shadow of his former self. Elena wants to get him off the drugs but the move to do so brings her into a battle with the authorities who want  “what’s best for the boy”. But is it really best?

In an age when everyone is on meds there aren’t many films discussing what all of the pills that are supposed to make us better are really doing to us. No one is really discussing how the pills are changing us. This is really the first time I've seen anyone mention it in anything more than a passing reference. The fact that this film deals with the side effects is really important. 

In the decade before my mother passed away she was on a weird cocktail of medicines that were supposed to keep her alive. All of them had the side effect of depression and suicidal thoughts. They turned my Mom into a depressed zombie who slept all day. When my mom talked to her doctor about the effect, the doctor prescribed an antidepressant with side effect of suicidal thoughts.  They never could get the mix right and the only way my mom could ever feel normal was not to take anything.

I was delighted to see a film that focused on the battle I saw waged on a daily basis. I love that someone finally has stepped up and brought the battle to the attention of a large audience.

But don't let me over sell that one aspect,  there is more to the film than that. It is a really good look at a single mom trying to take care of her son. It’s a film that seems to be digging at what its like to be the single parent more than many recent films. Things are not glossed over and I love that because it forces us to consider what it is showing us and not just move on to the next thing.

A lot of praise for this working needs to go to the great cast especially, Julia Chavez as Elena who gives us a character we can relate to and root for. They sell it all and seem to be living the story instead of just enacting it.

This is a super little film and is highly recommended.

DOC NYC 2021Capsules: LIFE OF IVANNA and OPTION ZERO

 

LIFE OF IVANNA
Ivanna is a chain smoking  mother of five living in the traditional house on skis in the frozen lands of Russia. Tired of the traditional ways and her nomadic life she plots leaving  the tundra for a more “normal life”

This is a slice of life most of us are completely familiar with. It’s a warts and all portrait where we get a real look at the way of life Ivanna is considering leaving. It’s a tough life that I don’t envy or wish on any one, especially when one is raising five kids alone. This is an eye opening film that is worth a look.

OPTION ZERO
This is the story of a couple of Cuban nationals who attempt to get into the United States by going through Mexico.

Cinema verité style film that was shot in large part by the people involved on their cellphones. It’s a bracing “you are there” look at what it takes to try and find a better life. It’s a film that humanizes the struggles of migrants that take things way beyond what we see on the TV News.  It’s a film that is must see viewing, especially for those who would rather not think about the people making the trip.

Recommended.

A Cop Movie (2021) Camden International Film Festival

This is the story of two police officers in Mexico city that is tols through documentary, recreation and impressionistic passages.

This intriguing documentary melds a straight forward approach with something else. Its an attempt to make physical the feel and head space of what it’s like to be a cop. We don’t just see the tasks of the job but see the reactions of the public and other officers. We get to know what the officers really feel.

I liked this film a great deal but to be completely honest I need to see the film. Because of scheduling issues I had one pass through the film, which bothered me because I was half way into the film before it clicked. Its all my fault, I thought the film was going to be something different than it was and as a result I didn’t give it a completely fair shake. I really need…nay want to see it again.

Recommended

The masterpiece 499 (2020) Opens Friday

A conquistador who conquered the Aztecs with Cortez and was on a galleon that sank on the way back to Spain, is tossed out on a beach in Veracruz having skipped across time. Out of his time he then begins to walk across the country toward the capital. When he tries to address some school children like a conqueror he is struck dumb and staggers out. From then on we watch him walk across the country while we listen to his internal monologue (largely about the glories of the terrible things he did) and the stories of people he meets who relate the pains of their lives.

Rodrigo Reyes' film is a punch in the face. It is a bracing look at imperialism then and now as well as a heartbreaking look at the state of Mexico. This film will make you wince and think and then wince some more. This is a tale of the cruelties Mexico has suffered since it was first invaded. Far from a feel good film it is a deeply troubling portrait of a country full of poverty and violence. It is a tale that echoes the wider and broader damning drift the human condition seems to be taking.

As  the  unnamed conquistador wanders the country we hear numerous tales, almost all of them are tragic. It begins when a man talks of his father who was killed for being a journalist and activist. It  then seques into a field of discarded police vehicles, a chilling warning that law and order is often optional. The film then travels across the country as we see bullfighting, the search for a long missing son,  a hired gun who will do anything for money and it ends with a mother talks of her missing daughter and knowing she was dead finding her shoe, blood and skin.

Repeatedly, I wanted to talk to the screen but my words simply couldn't come out. I was in shock of the sort you go into when you see something terrible before your eyes.

You will forgive me if I don't say a lot. My brain is firing with all sorts of random and half formed ideas and they are colliding with the sadness and melancholy churning in my chest. I know as a writer and reviewer I'm supposed to have answers and to put things into context, but this film is too strong too powerful for me to hope to do so after a single viewing. Worse I wanted to get a review up in  a timely manner.  Honestly this is a film I am going to have to sit with, and ponder for a while. It is a film I will have to try to get the courage up to go back and see, because I don't know if I want to be that wiped out again.

Yes, it is a masterpiece. Yes, it is highly recommended. Yes, it is a film that does what the best cinema does, which is dare you to think and feel about things you don't want to. I don't know if 499 will be a film that you like but it will be a film that will leave a scar and change the way you see the world.

Bravo.