Mexican film week screens must-sees
By Gotot Prakosa
JAKARTA (JP): Have you ever seen a Mexican film or television program? If you live in one of 150 lucky countries to broadcast Mexican television programs (Indonesia is one of them), then you are sure to know telenovellas, or soap operas, such as Maria Mercedes, Marimar, Maria La del Barrio and Rosalinda.
Telenovellas are very popular with TV audiences. They tell the stories of people's lives. Lives that are full of problems that are never solved. The telenovellas are easily understood by viewers around the world as they are dubbed into the local languages. Starlets like Thalia are very popular among housewives who rarely miss the TV programs.
Outside the telenovella industry, the Mexican film industry is struggling after reaching its "golden age" decades ago. In 1946 Emilio Fernandez's Maria Canelaria won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1953, another of his films The Net was shown in various international film festivals, including Cannes. And there was Luis Bunuel who created Nazarin (1959), Young One (1960) and The Exterminating Angel (1962) -- all in Mexico.
Now after a long period of domination by Hollywood films, Mexican films have reappeared, at least at international film festivals. The young filmmakers are the product of Mexico's school of cinematography, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia (IMCINE) founded in 1983. The school has given rise to a new generation of Mexican film makers, among them Arturo Ripstein, Juan Pablo Villasenor, Antonio Urrutia, Marcel Sisniega and female director Maria Novaro.
Their films can be viewed at the Mexican Film Week 1999 held at the H. Usmar Ismail Center, Jakarta from Sept. 2 to Sept. 7. Short films will be shown on Sept. 5.
The five short films shown are no less attractive than the five feature films. One of the best among the short films is De Tripas, Corazon (Courage and Emotion), a work by young director Antonio Urrutia.
The short film is about a milkman called Martin who does his rounds on his bicycle. Everyday he delivers milk to Miefer, an adolescent girl who is dreaming of having a boyfriend. After regular encounters, a passionate feeling grew between the two.
The owner of the milk company has an adolescent son named Jesus. Jesus and his friends often treat Martin as a loser. They force Martin to have sex with a hen to prove that he is a normal man. One evening Martin goes to the bar where Miefer works. He sees Jesus in front of the bar where Miefer usually is. Jesus does not make any headway because Meifer does not like Jesus.
The next day Martin delivers milk to Miefer's house as usual. It is in that house that Miefer passionately gives him his first sexual experience. That is the essence of the story in De Tripas, Corazon. It is very well done, very attractive, both from the aspect of cinematography and story telling. It is the typical work of a young person who has studied film making in a formal education institution and who tries to present the sensuality of youths.
This 1995 film received an Oscar nomination in 1997 in the Best Short Fiction category and won a number of awards like the Coppa APAM for Best Fiction Short, the 47 Mostra International de Montecatini Film in Italy and also the Ariel Award for Best Short Fiction in Mexico.
Apart from De Tripas, Corazon, the current Mexican film week presents Paty Chula (The Beautiful Paty) by Francisco Murguiia, Poer Es Nada (Better than Not) by Javier Bourges, De Jazmin En Flor (Blossoming Jasmine) by Daniel Gruener and Ponchada (Deflate) by Alejandra Moya.
The short films reflect the development of Mexican films. The different forms and genres give a rich description of the image of the Mexican film world.
Paty Chula (30 minutes) is a fictional drama, Poer Es Nada (15 minutes) is a mystery drama that shows the style of routine life in Mexico and the burgeoning of the erotic telephone culture that gives fervor to life again.
De Jazmin En Flor (13 minutes) is a semi-thriller that grips viewers. The film relates the story of two people who want to commit suicide by jumping from a building under construction or shooting themselves. Upon realizing that their families need them, they almost reverse their plan but God has His will.
Ponchada (14 minutes) is a mystery drama with an experimental touch of narration. It starts with a trap set by a woman who is going to carry out a robbery in a forest, pretending that she has a flat tyre. A car stops. Its passenger is a man who wants to help mend the tire. When the man opens the boot, the woman hits and kills him. She puts his body into the car's boot. When she wants to drive the man's car, she finds out the car has also a flat tyre. When she opens his car's boot, she finds a woman's body in it.
These Mexican films are must-see. A discussion on the films will take place on Sept. 11, 1999.