Conejo en la luna

I was a practicing attorney for almost 50 years, so I got familiar with the workings of bureaucracy. This film, I found chillingly accurate and realistic in so many ways. Although conscious that i was watching fiction, I found myself getting quite involved in the female protagonist's effort to get to the British embassy with her infant. There was real palpable tension there. i found myself watching the film twice in rapid succession so as not to miss any nuances in the early exposition. many thrillers are not worth a second viewing. This film is worth the time and viewing effort of any person interested in learning how the world actually works.

I have also seen this film in Morelia film festival and it really surprised me. The story is told in the best way the thriller genre can give and reflects the real situation in Mexico today. It flows and really catches the audience. In Morelia during the festival people were took by surprise by this excellent film, most of the people I have discussed later said they were sweating with the tension of the film. By the way, Morelia Festival is only competitive for shorts and docus, this feature film was screened as a special screening-gala. I highly recommend this film that has the best Mexican cast possible and an excellent British cast too.

This is probably the first Mexican urban thriller that doesn't fall into goofyness or folkloric gags to keep the audience in. The director doesn't go for joking himself out of horrible situations, they stand as serious as a political execution. Its a hard movie, with a terrible subject and a wonderful realization. OK, its portrait of Mexico fits more a decade ago, but that's not a problem in a narrative full of corruption, souless souls, great dialogues, creepy characters and horrible situations. The political game hasn't been shown as fully since the wonderful HEROD'S LAW. One of the movie's asset is the way the narrative focuses in many characters, jumping from one site to the other to build up suspense. The whole English setting could have been easily a cheapy, instead the production work it carefully to provide it with something all recent Mexican urban thrillers lack: verosimilitude. If the worst problems this movie has are in some production values, the acting and the screenplay are worth it. Even if Jesus Ochoa plays the same role he does so well, this portrait is probably his finest (just compare to the shallow cardboard he played in MAN ON FIRE), he is creepy and somehow likable. When a "first world" citizen looks for refuge in his own country's embassy just to get a "huy mam, come back tomorrow at eight" from a night watchman, you get a glimpse at the director's good eye for the reality touch. One of Mexico's best of this year.

What was set up to be a provocative look into Mexico's staggering levels of political and police corruption falls completely flat from third-rate performances, scriptwriting, production, and direction. It is a shame that a project with such noble intent on producing an eye-opening view into being stuck in the midst of this bureaucratic nightmare that is Mexican justice still cannot provide any believability in a dull, flat pulse that mires every scene in boredom. With the largely amateur cast, c-movie technical standards, and monotonous camera-work, Rabbit on the Moon's potentially engaging plot line is rendered limp, even unwatchable, in the important social context it is served. Moderately successful in it's home country, I cannot imagine the movie appealing to anyone else besides the precise demographic it caters to simply due to budget constraints.

A dark and scary film about corruption and fear that will keep you riveted for 110 minutes, literally! The villains of the case are very bad and obnoxious while the corrupt lawyer could be proclaimed as the absolute king of corruption. The relentless mental and physical violence is so intense that it leaves you stunned and without hope. The concept of justice and noble rivalry has no place here and people are pawns in a dark game of power where it depends on which side you are on. The quick editing as well as the complex premise is the key to this amazing thriller masterpiece. Without a doubt one of the best thrillers...