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Running time | 120 minutes |
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| Language | Spanish |
Tales of Mexico (Spanish: La habitación) is a 2016 Mexican-Polish drama anthology film composed of eight shorts, all written by María Diego, and individually directed by Carlos Carrera, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bolado, Ernesto Contreras, Iván Ávila Dueñas, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle, and Natalia Beristáin.
It stars an ensemble cast consisting of Kristyan Ferrer, Mauricio García Lozano, Kaori Momoi, Irène Jacob, Dagoberto Gama, Aurora Clavel, Sofía Espinosa, Francisco Barreiro, Alisarine Ducolomb, Adriana Llabrés, Osvaldo de León, Noé Hernández, Úrsula Pruneda and Raúl Briones, and was produced by Edher Campos, Luis Salinas, Marta Lewandowska, and Marta Habior. The film's musical score was composed by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek.
Plot
editThe film is composed of eight short segments: "El Sueño" ("The Dream"), "La Pesadilla" ("The Nightmare"), "Duermevela" ("About to Sleep"), "Erotismo" ("Eroticism"), "Soledad" ("Loneliness"), "Vigilia" ("Nightwatch"), "Muerte" ("Death"), and "La Evocación" ("Evocation").
El Sueño
edit- Director: Carlos Carrera
- Plot: Set in 1910, "The Dream" opens with a dirt-poor day laborer, Hilario (Kristyan Ferrer), sneaking into the bedroom to murder his former employer, the opulent Alfredo (Mauricio García Lozano), but bungling his attempt embarrassingly.
La Pesadilla
edit- Director: Daniel Giménez Cacho
- Plot: Set in 1913 (during the Mexican Revolution) the tables are turned when Hilario (Dagoberto Gama) gets a second chance to kill Alfredo (García Lozano) accompanied with a death squad.
Duermevela
edit- Director: Carlos Bolado
- Plot: A chronicle of three Chinese immigrant (grandmother, mother and granddaughter) and their lawful prosecution during the Anti-Chinese movement in 1928.
Erotismo
edit- Director: Ernesto Contreras
- Plot: Ángela (Irène Jacob), (Alfredo's young wife in "El Sueño"), returns from Paris in 1946 to sell the house. As she re-enters the room, she experiences her own sensual awakening in the arms of a Mexican Colonel.
Soledad
edit- Director: Alfonso Pineda Ulloa
- Plot: In the midst of the 1968 Summer Olympics, Clara (Sofía Espinosa) and Rubén (Francisco Barreiro) are a couple in constant conflict since she is an activist for the Mexican Student Movement of 1968 and he is an undercover cop.
Vigilia
edit- Director: Alejandro Valle
- Plot: The relation between Eva (Alisarine Ducolomb), a dwarf who longs for her days working in the circus, and Blanca (Adriana Llabrés), a young woman trapped in a destructive relationship with Raúl (Osvaldo de León). Eva and Blanca sleep together and they wake up scared due the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.
Muerte
edit- Director: Iván Ávila Dueñas
- Plot: In 1990, rival gangs (played by real street children) fight for the house, which is now in ruins.
La Evocación
edit- Director: Natalia Beristáin
- Plot: Set in present time, Valentín (Noé Hernández) tries to restore the house (now and assistance home) filled with massacre survivors and homeless boys running from their life in the gangs.