In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would do a post about one of my favorite and fairly unknown Mexican filmmakers, Carlos Reygadas. Reygadas has directed three feature films - Japon, Battle in Heaven and most recently Silent Light. He’s a visual filmmaker who focuses on landscapes and people instead of plot and action.

I was lucky enough to see Silent Light at the New York Film Festival last year - it hasn’t been distributed yet. It’s a beautiful, Dreyer-esque story of a love triangle in a small Mennonite community:

You can go here to read an interview with Reygadas from a few years ago :

http://www.close-upfilm.com/features/Interviews/carlosreygadas.htm/

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Cinco de Mayo, May 5, is the official holiday which commemorates the history of the Mexican militia’s victory over the French army at the Battle Of Puebla in 1862. In Mexico, it is mainly celebrated in Puebla, the site of the battle. In the United States, however, it has taken on a life of its own and is actually celebrated more broadly, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border. Cinco de Mayo in the U.S. celebrates the Mexican and Mexican-American and history culture that enriched the United States. Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexican Independence Day, which is actually September 16th.

If you want to celebrate Mexican and Mexican-American cinematic culture on Cinco de Mayo, then check out these top cinco movies.

1. Ahí está el detalle (1940), directed by Juan Bustillo Oro, is considered the best film of the comic genius Cantinflas, and established him as the “Charlie Chaplin of Mexico.” In the film, which is filled with physical comedy and social satire, Cantinflas’s character assumes the identity of the master of a household where his girlfriend is actually a made. The results, which include killing a rabid dog, and blackmailing a gigolo, are hysterical.

2. Los Olvidados (1950), directed by Luis Buñuel is a both surrealistic and neo-realistic depiction of the empoverished and marginilaxized children living in the slums of Mexico City. This film was a success at Cannes where it won Best Director and Best Film and is part of UNESCO’s Memory Of The World Register.

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