Film Forum

The title of GÜEROS, a Mexican New Wave homage shot in black and white, references blond or light-skinned Mexicans. Two brothers, Tomás and Sombra (one lighter in complexion than the other) and their pal Santos, knock around Mexico City, dropping in and out of the student protest movement that’s closed down the university, and visiting one of its leaders, Ana, a gamine beauty reminiscent of Jeanne Moreau in JULES AND JIM or Anna Karina in any number of Godard movies from the ‘60s. Whether quoting Rilke or Derrida or pursuing a mysterious musician “who made Bob Dylan cry,” this foursome’s droll, absurd adventures don’t revisit the ‘60s so much as reinvent them for a new generation of Latino hipsters. Unsurprisingly, actor Gael Garcia Bernal was associate producer of the film. 

MEXICO • 2014 • 102 MINS. • IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • KINO LORBER

Reviews

WINNER OF FIVE MEXICAN ACADEMY AWARDS!
Best Film and Best Director

“Both sweetly nostalgic and exuberantly now... An unabashed homage not only to the Nouvelle Vague but also to a more general international new wave-ism. The story pops and swerves; the images are by turns comical, banal and ravishing: and the result is a briskly shaken cocktail made of equal parts provocation and comfort. You come away with a buzz that is invigorating and pleasantly familiar… In the Godardian spirit of MASCULINE FEMININE and BAND OF OUTSIDERS...”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Read the full review here.

“FASCINATING. JOYOUS. Ruizpalacios shoots and stages… with great inventive power, his fleet, roving camera inspired by the deceptive looseness of the New Wave – the film is always in motion but always composed with rigor.”
– Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

“CATCH THE EMERGENCE OF A MAJOR NEW MEXICAN DIRECTOR.”
– Time Out New York

“Best debut feature I’ve seen in the last year, best Mexican film in recent memory, and best (black and white) cinematography since (the) equally stunning but very different IDA.  A sly, insouciant masterpiece, it marks Alonso Ruizpalacios as a talent to watch.”
– Godfrey Cheshire,  Rogerebert.com

“This bouncy and effervescent film often has the kind of timeless charms that can also be found in the early New Wave films.”
– Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter

“A good story – full of life and related with intelligence and a sense of humor.”
– Elise Nakhnikian, Slant

“Alive with personality and humor to spare…one of the more successful homages to the French New Wave.  It’s playful in the spirit of Truffaut’s SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER.”
– Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com

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