Never on a Sunday 4 stars
Silverio Palacios, Humberto Busto, Maya Zapata
Directed by Daniel Gruener
Shows again June 11 at 5 p.m.
I think this film’s take-home message for U.S. audiences is that if you’re traveling to Mexico, and you plan on dying, be sure to do it on a weekday. But if you do happen to pass on a lazy Sunday, make sure your family sticks around the mortuary for the cremation because if a mortician has to work on his day off, he might be irked enough to sell off your corpse and give your folks an urn full of dog ashes.
This is what happens to Carlos’ late Uncle Julio in Never on a Sunday, and it’s bad news for Carlos (Busto) when Julio’s increasingly gamey corpse keeps showing up, since Carlos lied to his family about witnessing the cremation. Carlos’ attempts to respectfully dispose of the body lead to a series of darkly comic misadventures, political commentary and even an unlikely love story.
It’s gritty and unpredictable, but for all its morbidity, the movie’s a lively romp. American audiences might not pick up on the Mexican political jabs (director Gruener pointed out and explained them in the post-screening Q&A), but even without those added tidbits, Never on a Sunday remains multi-layered and wholly satisfying … especially for an extended funeral.