"Under the Same Moon," And Others

It's hard to believe twenty five years have passed since Gregory Nava co-wrote and directed the sobering immigration epic, "El Norté." Hard to believe because nothing seems to have changed: the debate over undocumented workers or their overall plight. If you can trust the headlines the situation has only gotten worse.

"El Norté" depicted the trials of a brother and sister who flee war torn Guatemala only to arrive at a different battlefield in Los Angeles. Nava's movie was inspired in both form and content. No one has made a more powerful drama on the subject. Grab the DVD and you'll see.

But now two young filmmakers, writer Lighiah Villalobos with a background in TV and documentaries, and Patricia Riggen, a narrative director, have delivered their own take on the problem of borders. And while "Under the Same Moon" lives in the long shadows of "El Norté," it carves out ample territory of its own. On top of that it's a real crowd pleaser.

Rosario, (Kate del Castillo) a single mother, has made her way north to find a better life. She works two jobs in order to send money home to her aging mother and nine year old son, Carlitos, (Adrian Alonso.) Each week the two connect via pay phone to chat about an imagined point in the future when they'll be reunited, hopefully in Los Angeles. But when the grandmother dies Carlitos decides that it's no longer enough for he and his mother to dream under "la misma luna" (the same moon.) Having seen a woman arrange border crossings, and with a vague idea of where his mother might be, the boy takes off on his own. A predictable series of events ensue, but the many rich details and the winning cast keep the movie one giant step ahead of its audience.

Carlitos is hardly the average nine year old. Street wise but hopeful, he's like a little man in a boy's body. This makes all the difference at points where his arduous journey stretches credulity. But even then we never doubt his determination or daring. Credit this to terrific casting. (In a recent Q and A Villalobos said that it took a year to fill the part.)

Kate del Castillo, as the mother, has a larger problem; her role is stitched from well worn cloth. In spite of it she keeps her head above the quicksand of cloying sentiment. It doesn't hurt that she's a natural beauty.

The movie has a final trump card in Mexican comic Eugenio Derbez, who plays Carlitos's reluctant travel partner. There's an old show biz adage that advises against playing opposite kids and animals. Derbez wins us over by staying true in every scene. There's none of the glib mugging comics usually resort in their film debuts. This character is built through small gestures and offhand moments, that culminate in an understated but heart-rending conclusion.

Even when "Misma Luna" becomes schematic the details feel genuine: exploitative jobs, hardscrabble towns and road stops, loosely formed bonds that dissipate when "la migra" (the immigration police) show up. The story is also aided by skillful camera work and efficient editing.

The talent pool of Mexican directors runs deep. In the past decade at least three have created huge international careers largely on their own terms: Alfonse Cuaron, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro. For those unfamiliar with their work a brief recap.

Cuaron, after several features on his home turf, made a well respected version of "A Little Princess" in English, then went back to Mexico and directed "Y Tu Mama Tambien," which became a huge hit. "Mama," a sexy neo-realist comedy, proved that a sexy movie in Spanish could cut it everywhere. Cuaron also directed perhaps the most energetic of the Harry Potter series.

Inarritu stormed the festivals with "Amorres Perros," a stunning triptych on Mexico City, then continued along similar lines with the multi character dramas "21 Grams" and "Babel." Inarritu is a confident stylist, although I wasn't persuaded by either of them. For the most part the characters felt moored to a reductive world view that sold them short.

Del Toro came up in the horror genre. His "Cronos" boasted an original vision and startling visuals. "Mimic," more horror, about a race of human like cockroaches living in the subway, was several steps above the ordinary. Then came "Pan's Labyrinth," a genre-bending fantasy that saw international acclaim and success.

And let us not forget Luis Mandoki, an immaculate craftsman who has been working both here and in Mexico since the 80s. His under seen and under-appreciated "Innocent Voices" vividly portrays the tragedy of poverty stricken children forced to become soldiers during the ghastly civil war in El Salvador. It deserved a wider audience here, but lives on in DVD.

I'm eager to see what Patricia Riggen and Lighiah Villalobos come up with next.

A final note: "Misma Luna" opened in approximately 260 theaters, a large scale "limited" release. The first weekend it averaged a walloping 10 thousand per screen. While this is an exception rather than the rule it's worth noting that the film is in Spanish, has no major stars, and no violence. The material, fronted by an aggressive campaign, found an audience. Someone should take notice.

A 'Bank Job' that pays

An early title tells us that "The Bank Job" is based on a true story. In 1970, thieves tunneled into the safe deposit vault of an esteemed London bank and made off with more than 3 million pounds in jewelry and securities. To this day, there have been no arrests. But there was more to it than that, and director Roger Donaldson, ("The World's Fastest Indian," "13 Days") and the eclectic writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais ("Across the Universe," "Flushed Away") have conjured a complex brew of fact and fiction that keeps your head spinning for the movie's full running time. That title sets up certain expectations. But five minutes in we're knee deep in the familiar conventions of the heist genre: a bunch of guys on the outs, a femme fatale with a connection, a bank with a flawed security system, and some shady doings involving pictures taken during a vacation tryst in the Caribbean. Other than the puzzling opening on a beach, you know the territory. But that isn't a bad thing, because in this case there's a lot more to come. And it's expertly handled. And surprise, Donaldson and company have used the story to effortlessly comment on English society during that time. Some one has taken compromising photos of a prominent higher-up letting loose in the sun. The photos are placed in a bank's safe deposit box by a notorious black radical. A former model (and this is the story’s weakest link) gets pressured into recruiting her criminally inclined friends to retrieve the photos after she gets pinched for drugs. That model, well played by Saffron Burrows, is a little too upper crust for this bunch, so we have to cut the movie a little slack in its opening reel. But we’re rewarded! The movie goes above and beyond the genre's allegiance to plot twists and turnarounds. Civil servants, a pornographer, corrupt cops and several tiers of British society are credibly tied to circumstances here. The script pulls together so much information so quickly you’re hardly inclined to question it. Be warned, if you leave your chair for more than a minute or so you're likely to lose track of the tastier elements. The crooks, led by the sturdy presence of Jason Statham ("Transporter" and a host of other action movies) are believably thick. The caper is refreshingly low tech, and the gritty period details are spot on. The story doesn't race so much as hurtle forward, with a minimum of violence. That the characters are stock and a lot of their dialogue perfunctory barely registers; they're more than offset by expert plotting. An awkward romantic angle is mercifully brief. As it ripens, "The Bank Job" turns surprisingly sober. Events devolve credibly from lark to nightmare. The foibles of one class take a lethal toll on others. Characters, when pressed, behave in recognizably human fashion. As it turns out, a civil servant linked by coincidence really did come to a grisly end. Two murders were never solved. Almost as important, the movie's ending isn't reliant on screeching tires and crashing metal! (For those in need of that, see "Vantage Point," an enjoyable mess of a political thriller.) Because the writers, director, cast and production designer have cast an eye to reality they've given us a bit more than slick entertainment. This "job" is a pointed look backward. A technical note: "The Bank Job," shot digitally, has a terrific look. It is moody without being stark, vividly detailed, and more. A lot of people still refer to this as "high def video," which seems wrong to me. Digital filmmaking covers a vast range of "image capture," and movies are moving wholesale into this newish format. Not to worry; it no longer looks anything like the "video" of news reporting or reality TV. Roger Donaldson has directed everything from intimate dramas ("Smash Palace") to lavish adventures ("The Bounty") to docudramas ("13 Days"), all shot on film. In addition, he has worked as a cinematographer and production designer. During a Q and A after a screening of "The Bank Job," he extolled the format, saying that he expects "film" to die off in the next few years. I'll discuss this in a future column, but for now, take his word. He knows what he's talking about.