Under a Spell

Young Eliseo grows up in a provincial port in Progreso, Mexico, in the late 1920s under the mighty influence of his formidable father, a stevedore and a union rep, and under the more sensual sway of his school teacher, Felipa (Guerra). Produced by Guillermo del Toro, this takes promising material (think Tom Sawyer with sex), and turns up something rather ho-hum. There's plenty of incident and some depth to the treatment of themes of gender and revolutionary politics, superstition, and so on, but Carrera's lack of visual flair leaves it feeling more like a TV mini series than a movie.