BLEAK STREET (La Calle de la Amargura) (2015) - ♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Arturo Ripstein

Written by - Paz Alicia Garciadiego

Starring - Alberto Estrella, Silvia Pasquet, Arcelia Ramirez

"ARTURO RIPSTEIN returns to the scene with a script from his wife and collaborator PAZ ALICIA GARCIADIEGO based on a true and bizarre story of the lives of two midget wrestlers and two aged prostitutes crossing in a tragic twist of fate. 

BLEAK STREET encourages the theme of destiny, not only through the characters referencing it, almost as if they were clinging to a glimmer of hope or fuelled in detemination by it, but also by keeping the parallel storlines separate until the final act of the film. 

The story is set among the marginalised and empoverished communities of Mexico City. It is shot in black and white photography, a distinctive choice that gives the film a welcome air of timelessness and a unique charge intensified by lights and shadows which recalls neo-realism. It is a riveting mixture of traditionalist filmmaking, which much like neo-realism does not shy away from using comedy and a dark sense of humour to portray its delicate themes and deliver a genuine representation and human outlook on its unusual characters, all elements that define the cinema of ARTURO RIPSTEIN. 

BLEAK STREET IS A gripping vision inspired by oft forgotten truths about modern society, forced to live in almost surreal ways just to get by, whether in the shadows in the darkness of street corners or under spotlights in the middle of a ring."

Drama, Mexico/Spain