Belascoarán

A cookie -cutter murder mystery made for the American audiences. Some gore, some drama, an oh-so-good guy, an oh-so-corrupt policeman and, of course an oh-so-gorgeous (and brave!) girl. The evil guy is also extremely stereotypical.

Of course it is on Netflix - and the quality of films on Netflix is continuously going down.

South American cinema has so many gems, but Netfilx chooses just the ones that don't require much thinking. (As a matter of fact, low IQ seems to be a requirement for Netflix films.) I have been fooled again by high IMDB ratings and glowing reviews. Don't waste your time with this mediocre film.

My first thought: Oh dear, a crime series from Mexico. And then I was pleasantly surprised. Exciting, with the right pinch of humor and imaginative. And with really good actors.

Yes, you can also produce good series away from Hollywood. At least under the aegis of Netflix. As already proven by Narcos.

Hector Belascoaran Shayne, a well-heeled engineer, quits his job, leaves his wife and tries his hand at private investigation. And his first case is a vicious wife-killer. Not quite new the story of the first episode, but well interpreted.

The atmosphere of the series, set in the 1970s, is also appealing.

It wasn't bad, but eliminating characters and modifying the verbality of the story, the mysticism of the story get lost.

To start, why not show the original drink CoCa Cola on the show? Great opportunity for sponsorship and it would maintain the fidelity of the addictive drink in the Mexican society. Hector, Carlos and Eliza are European descendant, yet they all look more Mexican than the plumber. Hector is taller, whiter, and attractive.

The Belascoaran series are books that reflect a great deal of the reality of corruption and misery than Mexico experience. It is relevant and it gives a chance to the Latin-American community to see the true history true the eyes of a character such as Hector.

Why is Hector's brother not part of the story, is Carlos whom inspirers his brother to fight the cause and stick it to the big men. Why is La Chica Cola de Caballo so accessible, she was a shadow that appeared only when she wanted. Why was Hector so monogamous, he was a lover boy, slept with the clients even the young girl he rescues in the bowling alley. Carlos is a great character that provides direction to Hector, Carlos and Eliza are the pieces that Hector is lacking in his disturbed personality.

Finally, I know it's hard, but when it comes to the regional speech call "albur" the double meaning of making something serious a grotesque yet funny way to talk, specially among the "lower classes". You miss a great chance to introduce great comedy to the series.

Why so cheap, why the need to compress a book in one hour or less.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II is a great author that needs his work well rendered. He is not just a writer but a savy historian.

This series from Mexico starts off quite strongly, but fizzles quickly. The story soon becomes filled with too many subplots, not all of which have relevance to the main plot. The story starts to lose continuity through poor editing and jumps in the story sequence that leaves viewers quite baffled as to how the sequence of events jumped from A to C without going through B! The plot eventually becomes so confusing that there is complete loss of interest by the time the final episode comes around. The acting is passable but the audio is poorly done with moments where the dialog becomes inaudible because of the loud soundtrack drowning out the voices of the actors. This happens more than once.

With a little more focus on ensuring story continuity and sequencing through proper editing, and ensuring that the dialog isn't drowned out by background music, the series is quirky and different enough to be quite entertaining.

Mexico can guarantee a reality stranger than fiction, although Belascoarán does it's best to prove otherwise.

This 8/10 is completely biased, being a Chilango myself, albeit from a very critical viewer. The casting, dialogue, and settings are all exceptional, believable, immersive, even for what most would think is a surrealist storyline.

I've never read the 70's novels, or heard of them until this Netflix series dropped, I'd like to think that they've been seamlessly transported onto the silver screen.

This is a series that doesn't pretend to be anything other than good humoured entertainment with a romantic flare of the little guy standing up against evil.

I hope that these three episodes are just the beginning of an epic journey.