Macario

Rating:
Summary: Bravo for this DVD!
Review: Regarding the film, this is an old Mexican classic released in 1960, a little bit after the Golden era of Mexican cinema, from director Roberto Gavald?n, who also did Flor de Mayo starring American Jack Palance (who performed in Spanish!). For an American viewer, I would say this film is sort of a Mexican It's A Wonderful Life, only you would watch it every Day of the Dead instead of Christmas. Its a good film, with touches of surrealism and good old fashion morality (a la Capra), but definitely lacks the shine of earlier Epoca Dorada films. It shows a slight taint of fifties cornyism as well as the influence of the new medium of television. But by all means I don't want to sour you on this film. The cinematography is done by the famed Gabriel Figueroa, and he gets an occasional chance to shine. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out, especially if you have an interest in M?xico or D?a de los Muertos.

Regarding the DVD, I can only say WOW! This is part of the new apparently Televisa-backed Vive M?xico collection, and the production is first rate. The image quality is top notch, it has marvelous trailers for other films in the collection including Ahi Est? El Detalle (comedian Cantiflas' most revered film) and El Rapto (an Emilio Fernandez flic with Jorge Negrete and Maria Feliz), and it also has English and Spanish subtitles, which have been lacking on other recent DVDs. I see that a number of rare classics like Maria Candelaria, Dona Barbara, Bugambilia, La Perla, Salon Mexico, & Los Olvidados have already been released south of the border in this collection, let's hope somebody gets smart and starts selling those up here sooner rather than later. Otherwise I'll have to take a trip down to Tijuana just to buy some DVDs!

Rating:
Summary: Bravo for this DVD!
Review: Regarding the film, this is an old Mexican classic released in 1960, a little bit after the Golden era of Mexican cinema, from director Roberto Gavaldón, who also did Flor de Mayo starring American Jack Palance (who performed in Spanish!). For an American viewer, I would say this film is sort of a Mexican It's A Wonderful Life, only you would watch it every Day of the Dead instead of Christmas. Its a good film, with touches of surrealism and good old fashion morality (a la Capra), but definitely lacks the shine of earlier Epoca Dorada films. It shows a slight taint of fifties cornyism as well as the influence of the new medium of television. But by all means I don't want to sour you on this film. The cinematography is done by the famed Gabriel Figueroa, and he gets an occasional chance to shine. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out, especially if you have an interest in México or Día de los Muertos.

Regarding the DVD, I can only say WOW! This is part of the new apparently Televisa-backed Vive México collection, and the production is first rate. The image quality is top notch, it has marvelous trailers for other films in the collection including Ahi Está El Detalle (comedian Cantiflas' most revered film) and El Rapto (an Emilio Fernandez flic with Jorge Negrete and Maria Feliz), and it also has English and Spanish subtitles, which have been lacking on other recent DVDs. I see that a number of rare classics like La Perla and Salon Mexico have already been released south of the border in this collection, let's hope somebody gets smart and starts selling those up here sooner rather than later.