[Horrible Imaginings Film Festival San Diego 2015]
Mexico Barbaro is an anthology film containing 8 short films by Mexican filmmakers all based on traditions and legends. It is however more like a collection of shorts as the movies are not interwoven and there is no wrap around story. Each of the shorts here can stand on their own and the only thread connecting them is the theme. As with any anthology, some of the shorts are much stronger than the others. Here the best three are the opener Tzompantli, the second one Jaral de Berrios, and the closing short Dia de los Muertos.
Tzompantli, directed by Laurette Flores Bornn who has only 1 short under her belt before this, follows a journalist who goes to interview a narco and learns about an Aztec tradition where sacrifices of victims or war captives are done to gain good will from the powers that be. A tzompantli is a skull rack where the victims/sacrifices’ heads are displayed on rows of horizontal poles. Given the tradition represented here, this short starts slowly with a lot of dialog which leads to a gruesome payoff. The acting and images of this short are well done and take the viewer into the story. The effects are realistic and gruesome. This is a short worth seeing and a strong second effort from this director.
Jaral de Berrios, by Edgar Nito who also only has 1 other short under his belt before participating in Mexico Barbaro, is about two men who have stolen a loot of gold and are on the run. One of them is seriously injured, so the other finds them a place to stay the night and gather their strength. He place, Jaral de Berrios, they found is beautiful and a little creepy, but mainly it’s haunted by a stunning ghost who seduces the men to better kill them. This short is full of atmosphere and most of its story is told without dialog and yet it’s very effective and gives chills a few times. This is one that could possibly be developed into a feature but probably should not as it is almost perfect as it is now.
The third and possibly best overall short that requires mention is Dia de los Muertos by Gigi Saul Guerrero. This one is loosely based on the tradition of the Day of the Dead in Mexico by using the sugar skull look for the girls’ makeup in the story. Set in a strip club, a Madame or the boss-like older woman sends her girls to work. The girls dance, serve drinks, and work the bar for a varied group of men with various degrees of douchebaggery to them. Quickly, things take a surprising turn and the whole movie start kicking major ass. This short if the most fun of the 8 included here. It has plenty blood, but unfortunately its CGI is not great, but it doesn’t detract from the fun. It is still, with this issue, the best short of the bunch.
The other shorts are highly uneven, their stories running the gamut with trolls wanting menstrual blood, a rapey troll in the woods, organ harvesting, revenge, and creepy dolls. Not all are of the same style and quality, which may have been a wanted thing, but it ends up making the less strong offerings seem even weaker in comparison with the top shorts. The styles here clash a not and this makes the anthology feel disjointed. The central themes of traditions and legends are not quite enough to connect them all in a manner that would make them feel like they belong together.
Mexico Barbaro is an interesting anthology, but definitely could have used more cohesion between the shorts. A wrap around story or connecting thread could have helped it a lot. As a collection of shorts, it’s intriguing but some of its shorts could have been omitted.