Juvencio (Patricio Castillo), Claudia (Regina Orozco) and Jairo (Rodrigo Ostap)
This weekend “Chilango Chronicles”, from the movie director Carlos Enderle, is released in Mexico. Beyond the illustration of how difficult it is nowadays for a Mexican movie to be distributed in its own country – it has been shown first in some festivals and US cities – it confirms the wealthy diversity of Mexican cinema.
Three stories intersect in the same frame of Mexico City. Claudia is an employee, who flourishes with porn magazines after she discovers her husband collects this kind of readings and she is fired from her office ; Jairo is convinced he has been chosen by a master and the famous Mexican humorist “Polo Polo” to fight an Alien invasion, the problem is that he is also engaged in a self-kidnapping case of a young burgess boy whose mother does not allow him to provide his father’s legacy ; and Juvencio, an old man with money worries who is traumatized by the future of his quadriplegic daughter.
“Chilango” is a word used to designate the inhabitants of Mexico City, at first it was pejorative but now even the “chilangos” call themselves “chilangos” in a kind of proudness. What strikes first about “Chilango Chronicles” is the use of surrealism and the paradox that this use gives the movie such a realistic point of view. Mexico as most surrealist country, as André Breton used to say, is not only a legend. It is even a daily presence for any foreigner who discovers the country.
Actually the movie seemed to me much more realistic than the latest Mexican movies I could see, like “La Zona” or “Daniel and Ana”. Even if these ones are very good, they cannot be seen as a faithful portrait of the events of everyday life in Mexico. “Chilango Chronicles”, at the opposite, feeds itself from surrealistic details to build its own and fit with reality. Violence and economical problems are always counterbalanced with a sharp sense of humor and a real joy of using words (especially rude words !). So that the movie never falls into tragedy.
For his first movie, Carlos Enderle won the prize of the best first Mexican film and the best screenplay in the Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival last year. For the casting he chose several well-known Mexican actor, especially supporting actors, like Patricio Castillo (“Amores perros”) or Rodrigo Murray (“Padre nuestro”, “Amores perros”). But one the most amazing performances comes from Regina Orozco, in Claudia’s role. There is a kind of Pedro Almovodar’s actress in her (and there is a kind of Almodovar’s movie in “Chilango Chronicles”…) and the rise of rebellion and blossoming throughout the movie is completely under control.
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