Starring: Diana Garcia, Emilio Valdez, Juan Pablo Castaneda, Miriana Moro, Fernando Becerril
Written & Directed By: Gerardo Naranjo
Grade: B

The footage for Drama/Mex was initially over triple of what we end up seeing. Writer/director Gerardo Naranjo filmed various story lines and ended up going in a different direction than he originally intended. He took a cinema verite approach for the narrative film by just capturing the lives of these characters and after getting the footage edited it in response to how the characters and their actions spoke to him.

Drama/Mex shows a number of young people in Acapulco, Mexico. The first story shows the beautiful, Fernanda (Garcia) with her ex-lover, Chano (Valdes), who stole from her father and abandoned her. She has waited so long for him to come back, but tries to stay strong and keep him out of her life. Chano simply doesn’t take no for an answer. He forces himself back in to Chano’s life and convinces her to steal money from her father so they can go away together. Fernanda agrees to this although she has a boyfriend. Gonzalo (Casteneda) that she cares deeply about. Several people see Fernanda and Chano together and break the news to Gonzalo that his girlfriend has been cheating on him. Fernanda is hurt and angered by this and searches for Chano to beat him up for stealing Fernanda away.

Tigrillo (Moro) is one of the people who told Gonzalo what Fernanda was doing behind his back. She has plenty going on in her own world though. We get the idea that her home life isn’t the greatest as she sneaks off to sleep at her aunts house and swears her to secrecy on where she is. Tigrillo is trying to fit in with her friends who flirt with older tourists to get money out of them. She really isn’t sure she could pull this off, but she follows their tips and tries these tricks on a much older, miserable man, Jaime (Becerril). Jaime is quickly losing his sanity and is staying at a hotel on the beach to be alone. Tigrillo doesn’t plan on letting that happen though. At first, he blows her off and she steals his wallet. They slowly start getting to know each other and end up spending the whole day together. When the day is over, Jaime just wants to be left alone and Tigrillo just wants to end the night with him.

It’s pretty amazing that Fernando Becerril is the only trained actor out of the entire cast. Gerardo Naranjo simply cast these people in the roles that he thought they could respond to in one way or another. The entire movie was made based on the young people he knew, how they acted, and what type of things they were going through. So going to these very young people that inspired the material makes a lot of sense. We really do get great performances from everyone. Diana Garcia gave us the love struck and possibly delusional Fernanda. She is able to completely switch the tone of the film from initiating anger to this overwhelming acceptance. Garcia shows a certain desperation to be accepted by the one who made her feel rejection so harshly even if it is from someone who has hurt her time and time again. Emilio Valdez does a great job of bringing us this character who we can really only hate. His presence is really just frustrating. He is cold and slimy and barely has to lift a finger for this gorgeous young girl to give up everything she has to go away with him.

Juan Pablo Castaneda did very well as Gonzalo, who I found to be the most likeable character in the film. We really only get to see him in pain as he finds out about his girlfriend’s betrayal, which consumes him entirely. Still he holds his own ground and although he is hysterical and hurt, he isn’t foolish enough to think things can ever be the same. He was actually originally going to be the main focus of the movie. Although I enjoyed the film as it was in many ways I wish the film would have taken this direction as Gonzalo seemed be the most real and captivating, yet out of everyone probably had the least screen time. Miriana Moro and Fernando Becerril worked great together and gave us somewhat uncomfortable moments as they are very flirtatious with each other and Tigrillo is still far too young to even be flirting the way she is. Still, it’s interesting how it becomes more about being a distraction to each other and enjoying each other’s company so much that they save each other in this one day they spend together.

The film doesn’t really have a conclusion. Gonzalo confronts Fernanda and she makes her decision in what her life is about to come. Jaime especially shows how he has been affected by Tigrillo. We are given last actions and given a sense of where they are at at and how many of them have grown, but nothing is really wrapped up. This still works well even without this final conclusion as it goes with the cinema verite approach. It is as if Naranjo simply captured this day in their lives, leaving plenty that came before and many revelations that are sure to follow. Drama/Mex is really about being young and confused, going through pain and loss, but overcoming it even if it just takes finding a long lost youth in the eyes of a stranger; finding the will to do what’s right for you rather than simply running away from it all.