Zapata.

Some comments just call out for flagging from up front. You may have noticed that Jonathan Marlow's "Five-Point Plan" for the San Francisco International Film Festival has generated substantive discussion. Now, there's another you'll want to catch, on Cinco de Mayo no less, a preview of Alfonso Arau's Zapata from Sara Bachelder Hinz, who with her husband, Jorge Valdes Garcia, runs Puerto Vallarta-based Casting Valdes, the company in charge of local casting and the extras casting for the production.

One of our favorite sets and scenes, as brief as it was, was the bedroom wedding night scene between Zapata ([Alejandro] Fernandez) and Josefa (Patricia Velasquez) when he finds her waiting on the bed (don't want to include many spoilers, so I'll leave out the details, though I'll say you may be pleasantly reminded of a Diego Rivera painting.) Artistically, beautifully and interestingly done.... Mexican critics are quite tough when it comes to some Mexican films, filmmakers and/or actors/actresses of Mexican nationality that work in the US.... That said, we don't usually put much stock in what the critics and gossip shows here typically say.

And, just because, a link to a backgrounder on Emiliano Zapata.

Posted by dwhudson at May 5, 2004 5:40 AM