Cannes. El Violin.

Variety's Justin Chang on Francisco Vargas's writing-directing debut and Un Certain Regard entry: "Stark but absorbing drama follows an aging musician, beautifully played by Don Angel Tavira, who fiddles his way into the front lines of Mexico's peasant revolts during the 1970s."

Salon's Andrew O'Hehir finds El Violin "both a passionate tale of violence and music and a beautifully crafted work of black-and-white cinema."

"Expanded from a 2005 short film, El Violin takes time to find its momentum with a few clumsily handled early scenes, but you can see why Vargas was given the greenlight to expand it," writes Anthony Kaufman at indieWIRE.

Posted by dwhudson at May 28, 2006 7:51 AM