When people think of contemporary Mexican cinema, they usually tend to mention the ‘Big Three’, also called the ‘Three Amigos’, which features the directors Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro. First of all, even though they get classified as part of a ‘buena onda’, I would not consider them as Mexican filmmakers, anymore. After delivering one Mexican, so-called masterpiece and breakthrough film, respectively Amores perros [Love’s a Bitch] (2000), Y tu mamá también [And Your Mother Too] (2001) and El espinazo del diablo [The Devil’s Backbone] (2001), they all fell for the glitter & glammer and more particular the wealth & fame of the Hollywood system. Secondly, the last pictures they have done there or in terms of it, were horribly overrated. Iñárritu made Biutiful (2010), Cuarón Gravity (2013) and del Toro Pacific Rim (2013). All of them colored inside the Hollywood lines in order to become an overblown blockbuster. That last fellow del Toro even thought of taking on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, just to indicate their distance from their Mexican ‘indie roots’. Fortunately, there is more also much more to explore from this country's great cinema.
| Mexican movies | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Popular actors | David Thornton, Tenoch Huerta & Anajosé Aldrete Echevarria |
| Trending movies | 600 Millas, Semana Santa & Club Sandwich |
Anticipated 2017 Mexican movies to watch
I Dream in Another Language (Saturday January 21, 2017)
Director Ernesto Contreras Cast Fernando Álvarez RebeilJosé Manuel Poncelis
Eligio Meléndez
A linguist travels to an isolated part of the country to scrutinize and record an almost extinct language. There are only two speakers alive, but in order to get them to talk to each other, a 50 year feud needs to be solved first....Read more
Amazon La región salvaje (Friday July 21, 2017)
Director Amat Escalante Cast Kenny JohnstonSimone Bucio
Fernando Corona
If you're looking for something weird and sexy, 'La Region Salvaje' (The Untamed) might be just what you're looking for. Explaining the plot is close to impossible. but let's just say this erotic sci-fi relationship drama deals with an extra-terrestrial entity in an isolated Mexican cabin that only gives pleasure, no pain. If you're into movies like 'Under the Skin' or Alejandro Jodorowksy's work, this might be your cup of tea. Very strange and sensual. ...Read more
Best Mexican movies on Netflix or DVD in 2017 & 2016
2010's best rated Mexican movies out on DVD, Bluray or streaming on VOD (Netflix, Amazon).Alamar (Wednesday July 14, 2010)
Director Pedro González-Rubio Cast Jorge MachadoRoberta Palombini
Natan Machado Palombini
A Mexican grandfather goes fishing with his son and grandson. We get to know that his son is divorced and his grandson now lives with his mom in Italy. Through photographs and home video, Alamar explains the previous romance of the now broken marriage. On the boat, fishing, it feels like a semi-documentary which gives a wonderful portrait of a father-son relationship. And never getting too sentimental, it’s a really sympathetic and true to life picture....Read more
Narco Cultura (Monday January 21, 2013)
Director Shaul Schwarz Cast Tim Nailer FoleyJosé Manuel 'El Doctor' Mireles
Paco Valencia.
When you see this highly interesting documentary, you will first of all not believe your eyes but second of all learn so much about contemporary Mexican culture. And it will make you understand the movies on this list even more. Criminals pay songwriters to compose accordion ‘schlager’ songs about them killing each other. Bazookas are frequently used as accessories on stage when they sing their songs to families and children. It’s a fucked up world you know....Read more
Depués de Lucía (Sunday February 17, 2013)
Director Michel Franco Cast Tessa IaHernán Mendoza
Gonzalo Vega Jr.
Después de Lucia is about bullying, but in a much further developed, sadistic form. That’s immediately also the downside of the movie. Sometimes it goes way beyond the point of credibility. Franco shows the events as slices of life in a Michael Haneke kind of way, which makes the occurrences even more shocking. The acting is great and its shock value never bores. It gives also a great view on the consequences of the immediate access to capturing and spreading events on video in the ‘smart phone generation’. Besides having made an compelling, equally shocking feature in 2009, Daniel & Ana, Michel Franco has finished a new one. One featuring Año bisiesto‘s Monica del Carmen and other non-actors to achieve a semi-documentary style. A los ojos (2013), not yet released, will be about ineffectiveness of the health system, a very important subject but can he make it into a good film?...Read more
Heli (Saturday October 19, 2013)
Director Amat Escalante Cast Armando EspitiaAndrea Vergara
Linda González
One of the most promising voices in Mexican cinema must be Amat Escalante. He already delivered two intriguing short-films, Amarrados (2002) and El Cura Nicolás Colgado (2010) and three impressive feature films, Sangre [Blood] (2005), Los bastardos [The Bastards] (2008) and Heli (2012). All of them show how unpredictable violence can invade normal people’s lives all of a sudden. Los bastardos feels like Funny Games (Haneke, 1997) as illegal workers penetrate a middle class family’s home. Everything goes wrong afterwards. Heli as well is one hell of an unbelievable thrilling and shocking ride when a guy finds a bag of cocaine and decides to hide at his house. And it’s beautiful shot too, definitely worth your time. Go and see it!...Read more
Club Sandwich (Friday November 21, 2014)
Director Fernando Eimbcke Cast María Renée PrudencioLucio Giménez Cacho
Danae Reynaud
Eimbcke is a master in working out annoying, little situations to full feature movies with subtle but hilarious humor. In Temporada de patos [Duck Season] (2004), a couple of kids are waiting for their pizza to be delivered. In Lake Tahoe (2008), a guy is searching for a replacing engine part of his broken down car. In Eimbcke’s third, Club Sandwich, he describes the holidays of a single mom and her teenager son in an empty HOTEL during low season. They basically do nothing the whole day. Eimbcke transfixes his camera on pleasurable details a lot of us can recognize themselves in. In that way, the film is a very funny and touching story that will grab you, shake you and make you think....Read more
Post Tenebrax Lux (Wednesday February 20, 2013)
Director Carlos Reygadas Cast Rut ReygadasMitsy Ferrand
Joakim Chardonnens
apón [Japan] (2002), Batalla en el cielo [Battle in Heaven] (2005), Stellet Licht [Silent Light] (2007) stand for amazing contemplative cinema, reminiscent of Bresson, Kaurismäki, Dreyer and Bergman, containing often a lot of sexual tension. Especially the second, Batalla en el cielo, can be considered a contemporary masterpiece. It’s a film Harmony Korine would have wished he would have made. Amat Escalante owes a lot to Reygadas. As a matter of fact, the first was the second’s assistent director and the second co-producer of the first. Post Tenebras Lux is a dazzling journey into thought provoking scenes that remember of Apichatpong Weerasethakuls films. So if you like those, you will love this one. The film is full of stuff to think about, it’s dreamy and shocking. Just see it and resee it....Read more
Mai Morire (Friday May 3, 2013)
Director Enrique Rivero Cast Margarita Saldaña 
A woman returns to her hometown in the middle of nowhere when her mother is dying. During simple but at the same time complex family situations, the magnificent landscapes of Xochimilco surrounding their little hut, are beautifully portrayed. We follow Chayo, a strong and mysterious looking middle-aged mother, coming from the city, through river branches and open fields. Besides the ridiculously over-symbolic dream sequences, which the director admitted he should not have included, Mai Morire is an intriguing piece of cinema....Read more
La Cebra (Friday January 18, 2013)
Director Fernando Javier León Rodríguez Cast Jorge Adrián SpíndolaHarold Torres
Leticia Huijara
The history of the Mexican Revolution in the 1910’s, envisioned through the eyes of two random wanderers. After tossing a coin, they decide to join revolutionary Obregon’s troupes. Like Barry Lyndon, they are straight opportunists and get from the one Bunuellian situation in the other Jodorowskian one. Nice little, funny acid western....Read more
Año bisiesto (Friday June 24, 2011)
Director Michael Rowe Cast Mónica Del CarmenGustavo Sánchez Parra
Armando Hernández
A young female journalist goes to live in the big city. She tells her family she has a lot of friends and a good time. Everyday, she calls her mom to describe stuff like what she has been eating. When her brother visits her, he has to travel for eight hours. We see her loneliness and isolation. Then, she meets Arturo, who fulfils her weird, sexual desires. Those evolve into a sadomasochistic obsession and a peculiar wish that you will have to find out yourself. Despite the freaky and heavy subject, it’s all wonderfully depicted by the main actress and perfectly understandable because of that, in a way, I think....Read more
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