El fantástico mundo de Juan Orol (2012) Reviews

• Brilliant Comedy from Mexico

  jimnycla2013-01-27

  I had the great pleasure of seeing this film which was shown only twice at MoMA in NYC as part of their Global Lens 2013 film series. In this film, Mexico's half-forgotten B-movie master, "involuntary surrealist" Juan Orol (1897-1988) , receives a pitch-perfect tribute which is a love letter to a self-made man of showbiz, whose career spanned nearly sixty films (1935-1968) . In a black and white flashback mingling movie-tainted memories of his Galician childhood, forced exile to Cuba and arrival in Mexico, intrepid "Juanito" pursues failed careers as baseball player, boxer, bullfighter and gangster before landing in the movies ---where failure kind of works for him. As Orol (and his alter ego), Roberto Sosa, who is a combination of Cantinflas, Fernandel and Chaplin, brilliantly exudes droll underdog charm, anchoring a fast-moving comedy where every frame is an infectious homage to a golden age of cinema, the wiles of memory and the art of fantasy. Director Sebastian de Amo has made a classic film which introduces the amazingly imaginative Orol to film-goers all over the world. This is a must see for anyone who loves the movies.

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• Mexican cinema

  jotix1002013-01-29

  Like the other contributor, we caught this wonderful Mexican film by director Sebastian Del Amo, something that came out of nowhere, proving to be a real surprise. It is a biopic that traces the work of Juan Orol, a titan in the cinema, who understood what to give an audience in the way of cheap entertainment. It was pure, unadulterated escapism. It was the era when the "talkies" were beginning to make an impact. Juan Orol, who wrote, produced,acted, and directed most of his projects, went for basic plots, and if successful, he would do variations of the theme, disguised as new fare, something that his thin plots could not conceal. He was a ladies man, having married five times. Mr. Orol also had an eye for discovering stars to grace his productions. Popular music was featured prominently in his movies, as well as beautiful women and violent plots involving gangsters, a copy, no doubt, of the taste based on Hollywood movies, typical of the years when he began. There was not much art, or innovation in the pictures he turned out, but his public ate it up. The film showcases Roberto Sosa, a talent this viewer did not know, who plays the leading role throughout the years. The approach Mr. Amo takes is one of making fun of the ridiculous fun of the Mexican cinema of that time, but he is never disrespectful of the figure he obviously admired.

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