FQ Columnist Paul Julian Smith explores the latest trends in Mexican cinema, which encompasses such divergent genres as the rom-com and horror. Illustrating the former is the office comedy Mirreyes vs. Godinez (dir. Chava Cartas, 2019), which pits the spoiled offspring of the leisured class against the workers at their family company, a class conflict that predictably resolves through romantic alliances. In stark contrast is Belzebuth (dir. Emilio Portes, 2017), a disturbing film about the Satanic murder of children set in the tense and traumatic territory of Mexico's border with the United States. Finally, Smith looks at two productions—one an independent film, the other a televised sit-com—that use narratives about house shares to explore the theme of national reconciliation.
Screenings: Mexican Genres: Rom-Com, Horror, Indie, Sitcom
Paul Julian Smith, a Fellow of the British Academy, is distinguished professor in the Program in Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is the author of over twenty books including Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar (Verso, 1994), Dramatized Societies: Quality Television in Spain and Mexico (Liverpool University Press, 2016), Queer Mexico: Cinema and Television since 2000 (Wayne State University Press, 2017), and the new Television Drama in Spain and Latin America: Genre and Format Translation (University of London/Institute of Modern Language Research, 2018). He has served on the juries of the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain and the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. Follow him on Twitter@pauljuliansmith.
Paul Julian Smith; Screenings: Mexican Genres: Rom-Com, Horror, Indie, Sitcom. Film Quarterly 1 September 2019; 73 (1): 64–67. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2019.73.1.64
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