London

What is it? The films from the Latin American nation will be big this autumn, with a major season at the NFT.

The experience Mexican cinema is cool and Gael García Bernal is hot (and a TO fan). So says the NFT’s Geoff Andrew, who programmed the upcoming seven-week Mexican film season. ‘Watch out for their strong sense of inner qualities and national identity,’ he says, ‘and believe me, the extremes of wealth and poverty are real.’ Feature continues

To the present day, the only time I’ve ever attempted to see a foreign film was on dubious grounds: a young lady and I surmised the cinema would be empty, if you see what I mean. It wasn’t. Nowadays, with two kids and a local bookmaker to support, visits to the local multiplex are infrequent and films carefully chosen. My guess was that Mexican films would be full of sweaty, moustachioed fat blokes in vests and – this is why I volunteered – dark-eyed, luscious latinas.

‘We’ll start you with “Amores Perros”,’ says our film editor, with nods from the fellow critics who’ve come to witness the induction at my desk, ‘then “Cronos” and “Japón”,’ blank looks, ‘and you’ll finish with “Y Tu Mamá También”,’ at which point they chorus (in deeper, gruffer voices than usual), ‘you’ll like that,’ and turn to each other, grin and raise their eyebrows simultaneously.
‘Amores Perros’ is indeed an enjoyable start.

I like it even more after referring to Jason Wood’s book ‘Mexican Cinema’, released to coincide with the NFT’s season, although I find I missed the fact that all of the characters have their lives mirrored by their dogs. God, have all those years of Hollywood blockbusters really blitzed my brain?

Horror film ‘Cronos’ starts promisingly but it quickly fizzles out to plain awful and I worry I’ve missed something again. ‘Yes, it is strange,’ says Andrew reassuringly, ‘I didn’t enjoy it either. Now, you might not like “Japón”; basically it’s a long film about a 60-year-old man who goes to the wilderness to commit suicide and ends up shagging an 80-year-old woman. I’m afraid that particular director likes to shock.’

The following night I speak to our film section and bemoan the lack of attractive actresses. ‘Well, steer clear of “Japón”,’ one tells me, ‘do you know what that’s about?’ I tell him I do, and immediately confirm what I already knew. I’m not sitting through two and half hours of that. ‘

“Amores Perros” is good, but that’s Gael García Bernal and he is Mexican cinema,’ the other one chimes in. ‘He’s in “Y Tu Mamá También” – have you seen that yet?’ I tell them that’s next, at which point they do that grinning and eyebrow-raising thing again. And so to the film: a couple of sexually charged teenagers invite an older woman on a trip to a beach they pretend to know, and improbably she accepts. Of course, everyone was right. The film’s great – funny, sexy and spectacular – and lead Maribel Verdú is stunning. I’m impressed enough to immediately ring Geoff for a timetable of films.

What to say
‘The brave and uninhibited performances in “Y Tu Mamá También” are typical of the rawness and freshness of Mexican cinema.’

What not to say
‘Mexican cinema? Like Cheech and Chong?’

Where to start
‘Amores Perros’ is at the NFT on Saturday, with ‘Cronos’ next Tuesday, and on Thursday 14 you can brave the epic ‘Japón’.