Film Reviews - Some Contemporary Mexican Cinema

1. More Than Anything In The World

Directed By - Andres Leon Becker & Javier Solar (2006)

The relationship between the beautiful Emilia and her imaginative young daughter, Alicia, is tested in this understated Mexican drama. Disoriented after moving to a new apartment and left to herself when her mother starts bringing men home, Alicia takes refuge in dreams that soon become nightmares, especially once she begins to suspect that her mother has become possessed by the man she believes to be a vampire next door. A keen look at the pace and tribulations of contemporary Mexican family life, this film sheds light on the secret world of lonely children while never straying from its true focus: the unusual love between a single mother and her only child.

2. Tropic Of Cancer

Directed By - Eugenio Polgovsky (2004)

An impressive, almost silent account of the way in which several families survive in Mexico's San Luis Potosi desert, located at the Tropic of Cancer. Living in prehistoric conditions, under the scorching sun, they use homemade traps and weapons to catch birds, rodents, tortoises and poisonous snakes. Their main concern is avoiding starvation. They eat what they catch and sell their products to passing motorists on Highway 57, the most important trade route in Mexico.

3. Island Being

Directed By - Eun Hee Ihm (2007)

In South Korea, one of the world's most modern and powerful industrial economies, some unimaginable outrages of the past still persist. One of them is the island of Sorokdo, where Korean lepers have been interned since the time of Japanese occupation. What was once a genuine concentration camp - with experiments performed on human beings - still serves as a place of segregation where society and families cast off their sick. Using a suggestive soundtrack, images of terrible beauty and an uncompromising but fair-handed approach to its subjects, the director delivers a remarkable piece: a visual and almost tactile journey, a deeply moving reflection on the value of human life.

4. News From Afar

Directed By - Ricardo Benet (2004)

Martin sets out from his village, with the aim of arriving in Mexico City and save his family from their predetermined existence. The film is a raw, true-to-life, disturbing journey about people in a tiny settlement in the middle of nowhere and their struggle to escape marginality.