Peyote (2013)

Masterful Movie

Excellent adaptation.

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

SPOILERS -- All kinds of issues going on in this one. Two dudes meet up, and end up taking a random road trip across the Mexican country-side, ostensibly to find peyote. Along the way, we watch them face issues like parental/emotional issues, passive aggressive behavior issues, class issues, coming out issues, among others. One has lots of piercings, and never seems to have any money. The other is pretty clean-cut, and has problems standing up for himself, and doesn't seem to mind doling out money; or maybe it was worth it to him to spend time with the other guy... love (or lust) makes us do wacky things. It's a little confusing... not sure if they ever DID find peyote, or maybe one just got over-heated in the hot sun. By the end, they point out the other's shortcomings, face up to them, and seem to hit it off. Written and directed by Omar Flores Sarabia, who had only done short films up to this point. Quite well done, but was a tad confusing in some places. They spend a lot of time discussing the history of Real de Catorce... was that all a true history of the town? interesting stuff. Anyway. good watch. showing on FilmRise channel.

It's a two-character gay road trip movie. Couple that with a "coming of age" story and a character who videotapes all the time and you've got a recipe for a big bag of clichés.Amazingly, this film managed to hold my interest, despite my lowered expectations, and despite very prosaic material. I can't tell you how many times I thought, okay, I've seen enough. But I stuck with it until the end. I think the movie works in spite of itself. While the boys do not take peyote, they are certainly tripping. One interesting factoid in the dialog reveals that a prominent figure in the Mexican revolution was gay. The boy who tells this also says, this is not something that got into the history books. And he would be right, so far as I know. I was all over the internet trying to confirm; I couldn't. But I found out a lot of very interesting stuff about this man that I would never have known about otherwise. I'm not Mexican, but I went to university in Mexico, so this was fascinating to me.Can I recommend this movie? Not really. Unless you want to see how this director overcame some of the limitations that come with a two-character, low budget, road trip movie. I think Spanish-speakers may have a better appreciation for the film. As is often the case, the subtitles don't do justice to the actual dialog.

I do not want to write very much about this film, except to say that it is exceptional. The beginning is wonderful, where one of the actors plays like the child he still is. It is so perfectly done that it brings back memories of childhood. Then he meets the other boy, and the get to know each other and take the temperature of their friendship; the rest I will let you see for yourself. what is exceptional about this film is that none of the traditional Hollywood tricks is used here. The only thing which is presented, and why it works so well, is that the Director takes his time, letting the actors FIND the emotion as it slowly builds. it is so rare to see a film where emotion finds its way, instead of being automatic and forced. This makes it so much more real than most of what one sees today - with music swelling in the background to tell us what we , the spectators, should be feeling. In other words, in this film, it gives everyone the time to feel; instead of telling us what to feel, it lets us discover ...ourselves.