TV Mini-Series:  DMZ

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Cast: Rosario Dawson,  Benjamin Bratt,  Venice Ariel, Freddy Miyares, Hoon Lee,  Mamie Gummer,  Bryan Gael Guaman

Director: Ernest R. Dickerson, Ava DuVernay

Writers: Riccardo Burchielli, Roberto Patino, Brian Wood

REVIEW

A story ripped from tomorrow’s headlines? Two years ago, the thought of another American Civil War was unthinkable. But today Mr. and Mrs. MAGA America think a new American Civil War is inevitable.

This is the eerily uncomfortable future explored in the HBO Max Mini-Series, DMZ. This futuristic apocalyptic thriller is structured like the classic Escape from New York. DMZ like Escape from New York asks the viewer to take a lovin’ spoonful of suspension of disbelief before crossing the story threshold into this saga of a world gone mad. Fortunately, we have a stellar, well-rounded performance by Rosario Dawson as our guide through the chaos of DMZ.

A future civil war has once again divided the United States into two separate Americas with a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in between. Eight years prior, Dawson lost her young son, Christian (Bryan Gael Guzman) during the evacuation to freedom. She returns looking for him. The DMZ is populated by people of color who exist in a world of violence, corruption and warring tribal gangs. Young Christian is now associated with a powerful faction headed by the brutal Parco, played with wicked relish by Benjamin Bratt. Parco is in a political struggle with an odious oily well-dressed murderous businessman, Wilson, (Hoon Lee). Dawson finds herself embroiled in this bloody power struggle for dominance as she battles to reclaim her son.

DMZ is far and away Dawson’s best performance in a demanding dramatic role. As a despondent mother looking for her long-lost son, Dawson hits every emotional note with pitch-perfect clarity As Alma Ortega, Dawson can at once be vulnerable, strong, resolute, humble, fearful and touching. Her performance will likely generate some acting nomination buzz when award season comes around again.

Producers: Ava DuVernay, Emanuel Fidalgo, Roberto Patino

Production Company: ARRAY Filmworks

Distributor:  HBO Max

Available: HBO Max

Rating: 

FILM: Son of Monarchs 

Genre: Drama 

Director: Alexis Gambis

Writers: Alexis Gambis

Cast:  Tenoch Huerta, Paulina Gaitán, Electra Avellan, Angélica Aragóm. , William Mapoter,Gabino Rodriguez, Angelina Paláez,  Noë Hernández

REVIEW

The butterfly as a metaphor. Mendel  (Tenoch Huerta), returns to his hometown in the awe-inspiring butterfly forests off Michoacán on the advice of his uncle to come to visit his ailing grandmother.

 Mendel has been living and working as a biologist in New York City. Upon his return, he begins to have childhood flashback memories of he and his brother, Simon, (Noé Hernández), wandering through the butterfly forests pondering their beauty and the meaning of their yearly migration which brings them back to this same spot century after century.

 Mendel also begins to question his hybrid identity and where he belongs.

Son of Monarchs is a beautifully shot allegorical story that illustrates the spiritual connection between the butterflies and the Mexican people of Michoacán.

Ninety percent of the dialog in Son of Monarchs is in Spanish with English subtitles. Alexis Gambis, the director of Son of Monarchs, won the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

Producers: Maria Altamirano, Abraham Dayan, Jonathan Estreich

Production Company: Imaginal Disc

Distributor: HBO Max

Available: HBO Max

Rating:

The post Thumbnail Reviews: ‘DMZ’ and ‘Sons of Monarchs’ first appeared on .

Horror films are the most underappreciated genre with the Motion Picture Academy. They rarely get nominated or win Oscars. The only true horror flick to win, The Silence of the Lambs in 1992, won Best Picture plus several other coveted categories. Two-thousand-seventeen saw The Shape of Water take the big prize, but Guillermo del Toro’s fish tale isn’t so much a horror movie as it is an amphibian, fantasy, re-telling of the Beauty and the Beast fable. Guillermo del Toro’s creature from the black lagoon is a mistreated critter who oozes pathos, not terror.

Despite being snubbed by the Academy, horror films are often critically acclaimed works of cinema and enormous commercial successes. Look no further than Halloween Kills which is currently killing it at the box office.

So, it is most gratifying to see Blumhouse produce Madres and Bingo Hell, two well-crafted horror films featuring Latino casts, themes and two young, promising Latino directors with distinct and unique approaches to the ever-popular, ticket selling horror movie genre.

THAT ENDLESS PERVADING SENSE OF DREAD

Madres is a classic gothic horror story. But rather than being set in a 19th-century dark, musty castle or spooky old Victorian mansion, director Ryan Zaragoza (All American) skillfully puts together shots that create a pervading sense of impending dread to a migrant farm community in the 1970s.

The story of Madres, written by Marchella Ochoa (Worry Dolls) and Mario Miscione (Dark Web), tells the story of a young Mexican American girl from Los Angeles who moves to a migrant farm community with her Mexican husband. But not long after arriving, she finds herself confronted by terrifying visions.

“This story takes place in the ’70s,” says Zaragoza, “and I am a huge ‘70’s horror movie fan. I especially love the way those filmmakers use the camera and block scenes.” He continues, “I spent a lot of time preparing for this movie analyzing the work of Stanley Kubrick (The Shining) and Steven Spielberg (Jaws).”
The Jaws reference is significant because Madre’s understated but haunting music score by Esqbelle Engman-Brodwik (Bebé) is eerily reminiscent in its effect, forewarning us something bad is going to happen like John Williams memorable score for Jaws.

Madres is also aided by an excellent cast led by a strong performance by Ariana Guerra (Hellstrom), who plays Diana, the young expecting Mexican American mother who is a complete cultural fish out of water in the migrant farm community. Tenoch Huerta (Sin Nombre), plays Beto, Diana’s sympathetic husband. And the always marvelous Elpidia Carrillo (Chateau Vato), is the mysterious curandera, Anita, who knows more than she cares to reveal.

Zaragoza’s careful framing and pacing allow the characters to tell their story with authentic voices. Zaragoza also shuns the use of CGI gimmicks to show the terrifying images Diana sees. Instead, like the old masters he admires, Zaragoza uses blurred images and shadows to impart jolting, shocking lightning flashes of fright.

Madres is frightening but at the same time a very satisfying gothic-horror tale with a surprising coda based on a current, relevant event. The horror movie masters of the ‘70’s could smile and say to Zaragoza, “You’ve learned well, Grasshopper.”

Madres
Director: Ryan Zaragoza
Stars: Ariana Guerra, Tenoch Huerta, Elpidia Carrillo

TAKE A RIDE ON A BIZARRE MERRY-GO-ROUND

Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark) is a beautiful, vivacious, upbeat Latina actor, director, writer with an outgoing personality and engaging sense of humor. Not exactly the traits you associate with a horror filmmaker, but Guerrero has made good use of those qualities in the weirdly wonderful outlandish Bingo Hell.

“The idea for the story came about,” recalls Guerrero, “when my writing partner and I started speculating what might happen if you took bingo away from a group of senior citizens and closed down their bingo hall?” The result is Bingo Hell, a playful scary-ass meditation on what happens when a mysterious stranger comes to town and turns an old-fashioned, small-town bingo hall into a high-stakes, life-and-death bingo casino.

“I love horror films like Goonies, Gremlins and Needful Things,” says Guerrero with a smile, “Those films were scary with quirky characters and had an underlying sense of playfulness. I also liked Cocoon which had senior citizens as the lead characters.” Those cinematic influences are on a full Gigi-style display in Bingo Hell.

When casting the lead role of Lupita for Bingo Hell, Guerrero asked herself, “Who can I get to play an authentic Mexican chingona?” Obviously, veteran Mexican superstar, Adriana Barraza (Rambo: Last Blood). ¿Quién más? As Lupita, Barraza chews up the scenery with spicy hot relish as the Mother Hen, abuela of her neighborhood and the self-appointed guardian angel of the sacred bingo temple. But things start to turn deadly when Mr. Big comes to town and transforms the innocent bingo hall into a glitzy, glittering carnival sideshow of temptation and death.

Guerrero’s camera is always moving and circling her over-the-top characters. Richard Blake (Doom), as the evil, gaunt Mr. Big makes John Carradine look like Mr. Olympia. This guy is so deliciously wicked you could see him spending an evening with Creulla de Vil gleefully pulling the legs and wings off houseflies. It’s a scene Gigi with her off-beat dark sense of humor would shoot as a macabre rom-com. When the hapless winners of Mr. Big’s bingo game meet horrible deaths, Guerrero films them like a grotesque burlesque act. But Guerrero makes all the oddball, Bizarro-world pieces of Bingo Hell work. The climactic shotgun blasting, avenging angel scene with la chingona Adriana Barraza is well worth the price of admission.

Bingo Hell
Director: Gigi Saul Guerrero
Stars: Adriana Barraza, L. Scott Caldwell, Richard Blake

NEW FACES FOR AND OLD GENRE AND MORE

The future of Latino Hollywood is indeed bright with brilliant filmmakers like Zaragoza and Guerrero behind the camera telling their stories through the lens of the Latino experience. The Hispanic culture is a fascinating and diverse one that easily lends itself to all the classic Hollywood movie genres. Kudos to Blumhouse for giving Zaragoza and Guerrero the opportunity to strut their stuff in the horror genre.

Madres and Bingo Hell are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The post Ryan Zaragoza & Gigi Saul Guerrero:
Two Different Faces of Horror first appeared on .

For 12 hours, all criminal activity is legal but all the rules are broken as a sect of lawless marauders decide that the annual Purge does not stop at daybreak and instead should never end in The Forever Purge.

The film stars Ana de la Reguera (Nacho Libre, Cowboys & Aliens) and Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico) as a married couple living in Texas. Huerta’s character Juan works as a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family, though his presence does not sit well with all of the family. Despite the differences in the two families, both must work together after the Tucker family is attacked the morning after The Purge.

The Forever Purge cast also includes Will Patton (Halloween) as Caleb Tucker, the patriarch of the Tucker family; Josh Lucas (Ford v Ferrari) as Caleb’s son Dylan; Cassidy Freeman (The Righteous Gemstones) as Dylan’s wife and Leven Rambin (The Hunger Games) as Dylan’s sister.

From a screenplay by franchise creator James DeMonaco, the film is directed by Everardo Gout, writer-director Days of Grace. The film is produced by the franchise’s founding producers: Jason Blum for his Blumhouse Productions; Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller; and Man in a Tree duo James DeMonaco and his longtime producing partner Sébastien K. Lemercier. The film’s executive producers are Marcei A. Brown, Gout and Jeanette Volturno. The Universal Pictures and Perfect World Pictures film is a coproduction of Platinum Dunes, Blumhouse and Man in a Tree.

The Forever Purge is set to release in theaters July 2.

The post Trailer: Mexicans at the forefront of ‘The Forever Purge’ first appeared on .

By Justina Bonilla

The Forever Purge, the final film of the popular The Purge franchise, is scheduled to premiere July 2, 2021.

A strong presence of Mexican talent is featured in The Forever Purge both in front and behind the camera, including stars Ana de la Reguera and Tenoch Huerta and director Everardo Gout, as well as the Spanish-born, Mexico City-based cinematographer Luis David Sansans.  

The plot, according to Total Film: “[The Forever Purge] will take place after the events of [The Purge] Election Year (whereas The First Purge acted as a prequel to the 2013 original [film The Purge]) and will center on Adela (Reguera) and Juan (Huerta), who finds solace at a Texan ranch, having fled a drug cartel in Mexico. Things go awry when a group of outsiders decides to keep purging beyond the allotted time when people can break any and all laws.”

De la Reguera began her career in multiple Mexican telenovelas. She gained notoriety for her role as Sister Encarnacion in the Jack Black comedic film Nacho Libre. Later, she appeared in an array of American television shows such as Narcos, Twin Peaks (2017), From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, and Anna.   

Huerta has acted in many Mexican films, including two films with writer-director Issa Lopez; the comedy Road to Fame and the fantasy horror Tigers are Not Afraid. On television, Huerta played Blue Demon, the legendary Mexican professional wrestler, in the series Blue Demon and had a recurring role in Narcos: Mexico.

Gout began his directing career as a second assistant director for Romeo + Juliet. He directed multiple shorts and television shows, most notably Mars for National Geographic. Later, Gout’s feature film Days of Grace, which featured Huerta as a part of the main cast, premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Sansans has been working in Mexico for over 20 years. Like Gout, Sansans worked on Romeo + Juliet (video assistant operator) and Days of Grace (cinematographer). His own filmography features camera work for Man on Fire and Y Tu Mama Tambien and as a cinematographer for Narcos and Narcos: Mexico.

James DeMonaco wrote The Forever Purge script. DeMonaco is the main creator of The Purge franchise, also wrote the previous five The Purge films and wrote on The Purge TV series. He also directed the first three of The Purge films, The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year.

The Purge franchise is distributed by Universal Pictures and produced by Blumhouse Productions and Platinum Dunes.

The post ‘The Forever Purge’ Features a Strong Latino Presence first appeared on .

The annual award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation recognizes a film screening at the Sundance Film Festival that focuses on science or technology or portrays a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character. Sons of Monarchs stars Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico, Tigers Are Not Afraid) as Mendel, an immigrant lipidologist who departs from New York to Mexico to attend the funeral of his grandmother. The journey forces Mendel to confront past traumas and reflect on his bicultural identity, sparking a personal and spiritual metamorphosis–similar to a butterfly. 

Son of Monarchs is directed and written by French-Venezuelan filmmaker and biologist Alexis Gambis and features a cast that includes Alexia Rasmussen (Our Idiot Brother), Lázaro Gabino Rodríguez (A Tiro de Piedra), Noé Hernández (600 Miles), Paulina Gaitán (Sin Nombre), and William Mapother (Another Earth).

Hijo de Monarcas, which was filmed in New York and Mexico in both English and Spanish, will premiere at Sundance Jan. 29, with a second screening on the 31.

ENVIRONMENTAL CRITICISM
“As we celebrate the wonderful news for Son of Monarchs, I just wanted to take a minute to point at this injustice and call to action to save the endangered monarch butterfly,” posted Gambis on Facebook, referring to his movie’s selection for Sundance, before the award was announced. He highlights the risks and challenges now facing the butterflies in light of reported huge population declines in the past few years. “The monarch butterfly is threatened with extinction but will not come under federal protection because other species are a higher priority, federal officials announced Tuesday,” he added citing a New York Times article.

IMAGINE SCIENCE
Gambis’s filmmaking mixes documentary and fiction, often honoring animal perspective. His artistic craft and scientific background led him to launch various projects like the Imagine Science Film Festival in 2008 and the science-focused streaming platform and online magazine Labocine. Eight years later, he directed his first narrative feature, The Fly Room, a biographical drama that also deals with science, in this case genetics.

The Alfred P. Sloan Prize has been handed out at the Sundance Film Festival since 2003. The winner receives a $20,000 cash award. 

—Cesar Arredondo

Top Featured Photo: Tenoch Huerta’s Mendel character is a scientist who studies butterflies. (Photo: Sundance Institute)

Check out this video of director Alexis Gambis talking about Son of Monarchs.

The post Mexican Film Wins Alfred P. Sloan Prize first appeared on .