gueros

After premiering at last year’s Berlinale and picking up some notable reviews but, otherwise, relatively little attention in English-speaking territories, the Mexican drama Güeros is ready to leave some (any) kind of mark stateside. (After 12 nominations for the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards, the film’s done fine in its home territory.) This probably has some cross-over appeal, being a 1999-set (only a ’90s kid will get this) road movie about students who take advantage of the nation-wide student strike and look for an elusive folk hero “who made Bob Dylan cry.” Fun stuff, in other words.

Young folks and a beautiful woman traveling through Mexico might bring to mind Y Tu Mamá También — as would Gael García Bernal‘s associate producer credit — though early world highlights a clear debt to Godard and Jarmusch. Fortunately, though, it seems like one need not know those directors terribly well in order to simply appreciate Güeros, which leaves an early mark in this trailer with its 4:3, black-and-white images — enough to spark aesthetic interest, at least. How well writer-director Alonso Ruiz Palacios has packed the rest of his film remains to be seen, but first signs give me ample reason to think we should be optimistic.

Have a look below (via The Movie Box):

güeros poster

Synopsis:

This “wry, visually audacious film” (Filmmaker Magazine) is set in 1999, when a year-long university strike both engaged and set adrift thousands of students in Mexico City. Left on their own devices, Sombra (Tenoch Huerta) and Santos (Leonardo Ortizgris) begin to look for strange ways to kill time.

The unexpected arrival of Tomás (Sebastián Aguirre), Sombra’s kid brother, pushes the trio into a road trip in search of Epigmenio Cruz, a Mexican folk-rock hero who “made Bob Dylan cry.” Eventually, the beautiful pirate radio DJ Ana (Ilse Salas), who is also one of the leaders of the student strike, joins them on their trip through Mexico City.

Güeros will enter a limited release on May 20.

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