f. baez

As a journalist, what I liked most about The Post (2017) is that it portrays very well the relationship between the managing editor of the paper, the owner and the other members of the Board of Directors. There is a constant tension between the journalists' need -and lust- for good, important, information to give to the public, and the fact that newspapers are businesses who need revenue and are usually owned by people who have also connections and loyalties to part of the political stablishment. This tension is what makes newspapers both useful to the status quo and necessary for democracy, specially if it is solved in favor of the public interest, and it is well described in the context of the release of the Pentagon Papers. I also liked that, unlike other films about journalism, who seem to exaggerate the role of the reporter, this one does right to other members of the collective affair that is the making of a newspaper, from the intern, to the style corrector, to the printing and packaging staff, It also conveys the thrills and excitement that feed all of those who are lucky enough to have the best profession in the world. I didn't give it a 10 because of the somewhat confusing first 10-15 minutes of the film, when for the most part you didn't know who was who. Not a great intro. Otherwise, I found it flawless.

What could have been an interesting societal study of a change of elites in the times of crisis (the falling down of Sofía De Garay's status and the rising of Ana Paola Haddad's) is lost as the characters, true to the selves of Mexican upper class, are too frivolous to understand the reality they live in. And the film does not go beyond that limited look of things.

Yes, old banking and manufacturing families went down in the crisis of 1982-88, and others -notably the mogul Carlos Slim, well portrayed as Mr. Haddad- made millions and millions, but the process was not as swift and shallow as the movie makes it be.

Acting is good, production is nice, pace is slow and the whole film ends up to (almost) nothing.

El Complot Mongol may not be a great film, but it's certainly entertaining.

It's funny, it's works well as a caricature of spy films and of corrupt politics, it's acid and noir and melancholic, all at the same time. And it certainly catches the farcical spirit of Bernal's novel.

The direction could have had better rythm, and has an tiring excess of close-ups and shot/countershots.

The acting was generally good, but three of the performances were a pleasant surprise: Sosa as the drunk lawyer; Owen as the deranged Gringa and Arizmendi, as the Russian spy.

A conclusion?: Damn Outer Mongolia!