Kick It - Zwei wie Feuer und Wasser

The history of the peasant or working class young man who rises to the top in the world of sports or entertainment only to fall due to betrayal and/or addiction has been told many times before, but this movie from the team of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" feels new and dynamic. Compelling, funny, insightful, fast-paced, philosophical, moving, this tale of two brothers who are able to leave their banana-picker job to become major league football stars in Mexico City is fresh and exciting.

With a vibrant cinematography, an unflinching look at the Mexican realities of the marginally-living rural laborer class and the world of professional football with its egos, deals, and fame, we are presented with a large incisive, ironic slice of Mexican life. Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as usual disappear into their roles this time as the competing brothers who are not prepared to hit the big time. Poverty, machismo, football fanaticism, gambling, sex, cocaine, family problems, shady people are shown as colorful and obscene as the language used by characters. The scenes are fluid and entertaining; it may be a drama but it is also a fun comedy and totally life-affirming. To top it all, there is a great music video with Garcia Bernal doing Van Halen's "I Want you to Want me" as a ranchera in Spanish. In the end, the movie even at 103 minutes feels perhaps too brief leaving one wishing for more.

"Rudo y Cursi" reaffirms the talents of director Carlos Cuaron, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna.

I saw this at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The two main characters are brothers and polar opposites in terms of the roles they have. One being fun, jokey laughable while the other is more gritty, serious and intense. Depending on who was on screen, the story weaved from pleasing comedy to suspenseful drama. The movie is based around the 2 brothers being plucked from banana plantation obscurity into footballing limelight but this is by no means a movie about football. It's more about the the brothers yearning for fame and fortune and their determination to provide better lives for their loved ones. The directors and actors were present at the screening and asked the audience to watch this "not as a foreign movie but simply as a movie." With that in mind, don't go to see this looking for strong statement about Mexico City, go and see it for the story and acting itself.

Two siblings rival each other inside the world of professional soccer.

This film is marketed as being from the creators of "Y Tu Mama Tambien", which is not only true but very wise marketing. But let us not be fooled, this film is not on the same level, even if it looks just as good and has the same folks involved.

Aspects of it are quite good, and the Cheap trick karaoke is fairly amusing. But this rivalry of two soccer players is not very compelling. In "Mama", there was another rivalry between two young men, but that seemed more powerful. This is a situation where we feel no need to care about one or the other.

Well... BEFORE jumping into this Mexican Offering....

FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context:

What great expectations I had for this film! And why not? Most of the Mexican films I've seen this year have received a well-deserved 4 Stars! Besides, this film boasts a redux of the pairing of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who starred together in "Y Tu Mama También". Remember the great portrayals they rendered in that film? The great on-screen chemistry they exhibited!?!

"RUDO" begins with the title characters as brothers; well, half brothers, anyway, working on a banana plantation in rural Mexico. RUDO started out OK, although most of the funnier bits were rooted in the cultural regional oddities demonstrated in the congenial non-stop string of obscenities and insults the two brothers hurled at each other.

I don't have to read subtitles in Spanish, but for those who do, I would imagine a lot of the humor would be lost because of them, and also because these regional cultural quirks are naturally lost in translation! As RUDO progressed, I increasingly became aware that my expectations were not going to be met. Like genetically engineered bananas...You know, the ones that take forever to ripen!... RUDO was picked too soon and served up green! The movie is funny and amusing, at times, but could have been a hell of a lot better, if everybody hadn't been so forced, if they all hadn't TRIED SO hard...to be funny!

If they ALL hadn't been so stressed, I could have forgiven that RUDO's basic premise revolves around two 30-ish banana ranch worker brothers, who play local soccer on weekends, suddenly becoming the BEST soccer players in all of Mexico! That's a lot of suspension-of-disbelief!

BTW...Don't miss the music video in Special Features...Las chicas Mexicanas try just hard enough! Barely limps in w/6*******.

BUT.... ANYWAYS.... ENJOY! / DIDFRITELA!

In 2001, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna starred in Y tu mama tambien, a film I would place in the top ten for this decade. Their dynamic on screen was palpable. The combination of a their performances as well as a gripping story from the Cuaron brothers, Carlos and Alfonso. Alfonso directed the film and went on to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men, the latter being a gem. Now, Carlos has taken the reigns as director for his first feature with Rudo y Cursi.

He reuintes with his Y tu mama stars Bernal and Luna, who have had stellar careers since 2001. Here they play brothers in a small Mexican town who dream of one day leaving and making it big. Beto (Luna) wants to become the greatest goalie in the country while Tato (Bernal) wants to be a singer, but can play soccer better than he can sing. They are discovered by Batuta (Guillermo Francella) during one of their games and offers one of them the chance of a life time: to become a professional football player. The scene to decide who gets to go is one of the best in the film, so I won't ruin it.

The majority of the film centers on the two brothers trying to fulfill their dreams but struggling along the way with gambling, women, and the sport they love. What I love so much about this film are the characters of Beto and Tato. They are so developed. You can tell exactly what their life has been life without knowing too much about them. They are simple folk and talk as such, regardless of how rich or destitute they become. Cuaron makes this unbelievable story as believable as possible, throwing the characters curveballs, much as life does.

Luna and Bernal work so well together. They look nothing alike yet I believe that they are brothers here. There is a scene where Luna is very upset with his brother and venting about it to his wife, but when she chimes in and talks down about Bernal, Luna tells her not to speak about his brother like that. It's the little things that they do that give their characters depth and feeling.

Cuaron uses narration throughout the course of the film, much like he did with Alfonso in Y tu mama tambien. This narrator however has an identity (Batuta) while in the other film it is anonymous. I think I would have liked it better that way or simply done without. The anonymous narrator can bring some interesting details and histories to the story, almost like watching a documentary. This narrating is bias and doesn't get quite as personal. It could have been dealt with in a better manner.

Although Carlos has been involved with several movies, I was very impressed with his directorial debut. Some people are born screenwriters, but step behind the camera and things fall apart. Luckily for us Carlos is multi talented like his brother. There are some very nice scenes here with solid camera work. One particular shot of the two brothers sitting across from each other at a table was beautiful in my opinion.

After the film was over and the credits began to roll, I happened to notice the names under the "Produced by" title. They were Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandoro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Guillermo Del Toro. They recently made a production company called Cha Cha Cha films. These three filmmakers won world wide acclaim in 2006 when they each released brilliant pieces of cinema. Cuaron with Children of Men, Inarritu with Babel, and Del Toro with Pan's Labyrinth. A pretty impressive threesome to have on your film's credits. I was impressed.

Rudo y Cursi is a very satisfying film for those who aren't looking for a typical story. Some might get mad at the ending but that's understandable. Such is life. Not everybody can be happy. I guess that's the film's underlying message that if you accept what life has dealt you, happiness will come to you.