Lucía, Lucía (2003)

Cecilia Roth (Almodovar's All About My Mother, Dark Habits) is an older woman whose husband mysteriously disappears in an airport when they are travelling to Rio. She finds he has 20 million pesos in his safe deposit box to pay ransom.With Felix (Carlos Álvarez-Nóvoa) at her side, she manages to try and find out what happened to her husband. She also enlists the aid of young Adrian (Kuno Becker) in the adventure. The three of them are certainly worth watching.Felix is an old leftist who is handy with a gun, and Adrian is looking for some fun with a woman almost twice his age. She definitely doesn't look bad for that age either! It would be helpful to be more versed in Mexican politics to enjoy this.

"Lucia, Lucia" is a Mexican comedy/light-drama about a forty something married woman who takes up with an older man and a younger man to go in search of her kidnapped husband. What follows is, by all accounts, an unsatisfying tale of the hapless trio sorting through the foibles and mischief of Mexican bad guys, cops, and some underground movement. As a comedy/mystery story, this film stumbles around awkwardly. However, as a showcase for the beautiful title character (Roth), the film works very well. Those who expect a story may be disappointed whereas those who expect a light hearted character study of a woman in midlife working her relationships with two men may be amply rewarded. Recommended for more mature audiences into Latin flicks. (Those who enjoy this film may want to check out "Solas", a Spanish film which is also about a woman in trouble who, like Lucia, takes up with a Carlos Álvarez-Novoa character). (B-)

Wasn't this supposed to be the summer of only dumb sequels for teenagers? So what a surprise that we have a virtual trilogy of intelligent foreign films about women of a certain age with strong, sexy imaginations and time on their hands to meet up with unexpected strangers, in "Swimming Pool" then "Friday Night (Vendredi Soir)" and now "Lucia, Lucia (La Hija del canibal)." "Lucia" is unexpectedly the funniest of the three, a delightfully wry black comedy with twists on expectations that the storyteller turns on herself constantly as she bonds in an odd three-some with her neighbors, an elderly ex-revolutionary and a young hunk. While based on a novel, it seems like a gender/generational response to the Mexican teen-age road movie "Y Tu Mama Tambien," in the classic tradition of women's response songs to hits (as in "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"), complete with a country line dance scene as a relaxing break from political intrigue and marital secrets exposed while Lucia searches for her kidnapped husband -- and herself. One of the running jokes is how the older generations can still surprise the young 'uns.

Is this a comedy fueled with drama or viceversa? La hija del caníbal is the second effort for Antonio Serrano, the man behind the "successful" movie Sexo, pudor y lágrimas -but only because the money earned with it says so-, and sadly to say, it's not a good one. Based on a novel by writer/journalist Rosa Montero, La hija... tells the story of a middle age woman whom, all of a sudden, has lost track of her husband. Vaguely, the plot is about the crisis that affects women when they turn in their forties; and I mean real vaguely just because this film never goes deeper than the surface of the matter. Once again Serrano has put on film his own vision of what something or someone SHOULD look like, not searching what's really going on inside the character or situation. At least in most of the movie the director left behind it´s yuppie like panomaric and pretentious tricks and talk he used for his debut, but also, he got himself trapped in a maze in which he couldn't find a wiser way to get out of it; even though he had already a plot.It´s not so lame, but isn't that good either. I think the main problem with it is the sense of flatness all over the story. There's no passion -in actors or director-, and when you expect for the plot to go in crescendo, it maintains the same level leading you into risky stages of nearly boredom, saved only because some support roles comes to scene and gives some air to it. The film delays on it's take off and once it does (but in a poorly manner), the audience spends a hard time trying to get really involved mainly because of the events and how they are treated, and lead by the circumstances that surrounds the narrative, anyone should expect for a true climax. And that it's something that never happens.Magic surrealism it's not a word for being used in here but neither is a crude reality, the execution in a whole it´s almost childish, and the only one worth to look at is spaniard actor Álvarez-Novoa, but he's performing almost the same role he has done before in Solas -by the way, a superb film-; anything else is just like a half done puzzle, where you can guess the figure but never admire it complete. This is not a good effort, but at least Serrano is shaking off him a perspective of a pretentious México full of contrasts in the cool or intellectual guy, but, ironically, that's exactly what intrigues me; to what kind of audience is this film intended? I don't think people who loved Sexo, pudor y lágrimas is gonna run to see it because this one it´s more down to earth, and the thriller freaks won´t find it amusing because of it's lack of real suspense. Maybe it's only for soap opera watchers. Let´s just wait for what's coming next from Serrano.