I really like this movie simply because it is so haotic! Real life is haotic, but humans have that socially programmed need to control everything - which is impossible! Grown man is grown when he starts understanding that clearly.
The girl - she has feelings to both of the guys. One is good, the other is bad, buth both attract her. It's cute.
Plot summary
Two interlaced stories unfold over the course of the same long, hot day in the once lush and now decadent resort town of Acapulco. The first involves the beautiful and cool Fernanda, who is forced to deal with the sudden emergence of her ex-lover, Chino. Her boyfriend, Gonzalo, must now compete with the intense sexual tension Fernanda and Chino share. The second story concerns Jamie, an office worker with hidden indiscretions, attempting suicide in a beachfront hotel-until a precocious and equally dishonest teenage girl disrupts his plan. They will all converge in a stark and harrowing portrayal of moral ambiguity.
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A harsh reality
Adrift in Acapulco
The mere idea that Mexican actors, Diego Luna and Gabriel Garcia Bernal were involved with "Drama/Mex", was the main reason for watching this film written and directed by Gerardo Naranjo. This is, in many ways a movie that evokes better made ones by the likes of Alejandro Gonzales Inurritu, or Alfonso Cuaron, who have elevated the quality of Mexican cinema to new heights.
"Drama/Mex" seems to have been a project of love on the part of everyone involved in it. The result feels like a cross between cinema-variete and a road picture, as we are taken along to meet a group of unconnected seedy characters that populate the lower depths of Acapulco. The film, with its two different narratives can be confusing at times if one doesn't pay attention of what is going on.
What Mr. Naranjo has accomplished is to create an atmosphere of people in turmoil where he sets his characters to live and play. Best of all, Fernando Becerril, a solid actor who conveys the anguish Jaime is going through. This is a tormented soul and Mr. Becerril gives a nuanced performance. Among the young players, who might be non-professional, Diana Garcia, who is seen as Fernanda, shows a promise. Also Miriana Moro, as a young prostitute, and Emilio Valdes make valuable contributions.
One can expect better things from Mr. Naranjo in the future.
Flawed, but not with out its merits
Gerardo Naranjo's sophomore feature, "Drama/Mex", is as unhinged as its protagonists. Essentially, the film plays out as an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu hybrid, dubiously trying to forcefully connect three stories uncoiling in Acapulco. The first is of Fernanda (Diana Garcia) who runs into Chano (Emilio Valdes),her ex boyfriend at a café; the next thing you know, they're already in bed. In this case, the drama here is that, as familiar as it may seem, she already has a boyfriend named Gonzalo (Juan Pablo Castaneda). At the same time, another tedious narrative thread follows Mariana, who, after just being hired by fellow prostitutes, spots Jaime (Fernando Becerril)a pretty damn old man who has such meaningless life that he essentially goes to the city to kill himselfand gets him to feed her, entertain her, and shelter her. Despite its grand, promising opening sequence filled with ambition and audacity, the main problem with "Drama/Mex", of course, is its callously exasperating narrative; jaundiced to its very core, it ends up going all over the place, as we now find Gonzalo attacking Chano, Jaime at the club, Fernanda running all over the place, and Mariana buying anything she can. Essentially, what starts out as a finely nuanced, audaciously handsome drama evolves into a frustrating imbroglio, as its familiar ending fails to unite its narrative threads, finally culminating happily yet with a profound feeland, as odd as it may seem, such disaster can be pliantly interpreted; even appealingly. Indeed, "Drama/Mex" is not entirely with out its merit: Naranjo's mesmerizing camera work fits its milieu perfectly, and the fact that he first studies his characters before sending them to ruin is proof of its boundless self-confidenceall of which are perpetuated by the miraculous cast that, indeed, beautifully portray their dubious situations.