Superb Mexican Cinema
All of these films are superbly made. They show the capability that Mexican people have to create the purest form of art in cinema amidst a collapsing society.
If you find this list, give some of these a watch. These films are carefully selected by me.
The ones marked by a ★ are MUST-WATCH!
If you find this list, give some of these a watch. These films are carefully selected by me.
The ones marked by a ★ are MUST-WATCH!
List activity
199 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
21 titles
- DirectorAlonso RuizpalaciosStarsTenoch HuertaSebastián AguirreIlse SalasTomas is too much for his lone mother so she sends him to live with his older brother Federico, aka Sombra, in Mexico City.★ Avant-garde, light hearted film on the poetry of being a young person in Mexico City.
- DirectorAmat EscalanteStarsRuth RamosSimone BucioJesús MezaA couple in a troubled marriage locate a meteorite, initiating an encounter with a mysterious creature. Their lives are turned upside down by the discovery of the creature, which is a source of both pleasure and destruction.A sort of Mexican retelling of Zulawski's Possession.
- DirectorAmat EscalanteStarsJesus Moises RodriguezRubén SosaNina ZavarinJesus and Fausto, two low-paid Mexican laborers working illegally across the border in LA, are offered big money and a sawn-off shotgun to break into the home of a drug addicted single mother and take her hostage.★ Hanekesque film about two undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S.
- DirectorMichel FrancoStarsDario Yazbek BernalMarimar VegaJosé María TorreDaniel and Ana, siblings and best friends, are forced to deal with unimaginable trauma after they are kidnapped and forced to have sex on camera.Notoriously disturbing film, yet perfectly made.
- DirectorCarlos ReygadasStarsCornelio WallMiriam ToewsMaria PankratzIn a Mennonite community in Mexico, a father's faith is tested when he falls in love with a new woman.★ Poetic, perfectionist, magic-realist, heart wrenching film about a man having an affair and the toll it takes on his Mennonite family.
- DirectorMichel LipkesStarsAlberto AguayoCarlos AlvaradoErnesto BertaudThe story follows two garbage handlers, enamoured with each other, traipsing through the streets of Mexico City. The pair struggle to navigate away from a broken world, destined to get their hands dirtied.★ A disturbing, superbly made thriller that feels like a nightmare. The type of film that one never forgets.
- DirectorDavid PablosStarsNancy TalamantesÓscar TorresLeidi GutiérrezYoung Ulises falls in love with teen Sofia, even as he is forced to lure her into his family's prostitution ring. Now he will do anything to save her.★ As heart wrenching as it gets. A poetic film on the issue of forced prostitution in Mexico.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsEmilio EchevarríaGael García BernalGoya ToledoAn amateur dog fighter, a supermodel, and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City.★ Tells the disturbing story of three characters, and the way their worlds collide thanks to their dogs.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsBrad PittCate BlanchettGael García BernalTragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, which jump starts an interlocking story involving four different families.
- DirectorSebastián HofmannStarsLuis Gerardo MéndezMiguel RodarteRJ MitteTwo haunted family men join forces in a destructive crusade to rescue their families from a tropical paradise, after becoming convinced that an American timeshare conglomerate has a sinister plan to take their loved ones away.Dreamy, weird and unsettling, it's like reading a King's novel.
- DirectorErick StollChase WhitesideStarsAméricaAmérica is a story of brothers confronting the chasm between adolescent yearning and adult realities when brought together to care for their ailing ninety-three year old grandmother.Lighthearted documentary about the life of two brothers and a senile lady.
Takes the art of documentary filmmaking to an almost magical approach. - DirectorCarlos CarreraStarsGael García BernalAna Claudia TalancónSancho GraciaPolitics and sexual passions threaten to corrupt a young, newly-ordained priest in a small Mexican town.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsMaribel VerdúGael García BernalDaniel Giménez CachoIn Mexico, two teenage boys and an older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life and each other.
- DirectorFrancisco VargasStarsÁngel TaviraGerardo TaracenaDagoberto GamaIn an unnamed Latin American country that closely resembles Mexico, the government fights a rural insurgency with torture, assault, rape, and murder. Soldiers descend on a town, cutting off the rebels from their cache of ammunition hidden in a field. A family of grandfather, son, and grandson are among the rebels in the hills. The grandfather, with his violin over his shoulder, tries to pass the checkpoint, ostensibly to tend his corn crop. The commanding officer lets him pass but insists on a daily music lesson. Can the old man ferry out the ammunition in his violin case under the soldiers' nose?
- DirectorAlonso RuizpalaciosStarsGael García BernalLeonardo OrtizgrisAlfredo CastroIn 1985, a group of criminals mock the security of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City to extract 140 pre-Hispanic pieces from their showcases.
- DirectorArturo RipsteinStarsPedro Armendáriz Jr.Narciso BusquetsErnesto Gómez CruzA former felon is blackmailed by a corrupt policeman and forced to commit a crime.
- DirectorEverardo GonzálezA documentary about the violence in Mexico told from the word of those who have suffered the pain and those who make the pain.
- DirectorJorge FonsStarsHéctor BonillaMaría RojoJorge FegánA Claustrophobic experience which involves a Mexican middle class family into the atrocities made by wild and heartless army forces whose main objective seems to be students who do not permit the 1968's Olimpic games' to develop normally.★ Masterful depiction of the 1968 peaceful protesting student massacre perpetrated by the state.
- DirectorMichael RoweStarsMónica Del CarmenGustavo Sánchez ParraMarco ZapataLaura's personal life consists of one affair after another. She meets Arturo and the pair enter into an intense, violent sexual relationship. As days go by, Laura crosses out the days on a calendar, revealing her secret past to her lover.
- DirectorJulien ElieAn epic investigation into countless murders in Mexico. Presented in chapters, the film unfolds methodically through unsettling testimonials, sketching a portrait of an entire country transformed into a gigantic mass grave thanks to a climate of impunity established by both criminal gangs and state authorities.
- DirectorLudovic BonleuxIn the depths of the Sierra of Guerrero in Mexico, after the disappearance of the 43 students, we find the reaction of wounded civil society to seek an answer to the situation of abuse of authority mixed with poverty.Documentary on the disappearance of 43 students at the hands of the military, and the restless search of their families to find their remains.
A crime that took place back in 2014, and to this day has not been solved and no one has been punished.
"JUST TELL US, WHERE DID YOU HIDE THEIR BODIES?"