Once Upon a Time Maria 2 stars
Julio Bracho, Ana Serradilla
Directed by Jesus Magana Vazquez
Shows again June 11 at 2 p.m.
Part erotic comedy, part drug-induced fever dream, this experimental Mexican feature follows the exploits of an unreliable protagonist named Tonatiuh. During the course of the fragmented story, he will bed no fewer than four different women named Maria, one of whom is more important than the others and probably the cause of many hallucinations. This doesn’t count his mother or his shrink, both of whom go by Maria.
The whole film is wrapped around like a Lynchian nightmare, but amongst Spanish-language contemporaries it has the frank sexuality of Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien and the playful comedic tones of Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her, and the confusion of lovers is reminiscent of Alejandro Amenabar’s Open Your Eyes. Yet Vazquez’s movie is somehow apart. This could mean he’s a true original, or it could just mean he lacks the vision of the aforementioned auteurs. Whatever it is, it’s worth seeing just for the Maria played by the mischievous Serradilla, who will surely cause audience members dreams of their own.