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Has Mexico's film industry been helped or harmed by Hollywood? Has Mexico's film industry been helped or harmed by Hollywood?
(5 months later)
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An 11-year record at the Mexican box office fell the weekend before last, when class-clash comedy Nosotros los Nobles (We Are the Nobles) dislodged the 2002 Gael García Bernal drama The Crime of Father Amaro as the highest-grossing local film of all time. The sickly sweet whiff of Catholic corruption enticed audiences a decade back; this time it's the equally worn groove of the gulf between rich and poor in the country. Nosotros los Nobles riffs on the cunning scheme of a Mexico City millionaire who strips his kids of all their luxuries by staging a fake police raid, forcing them to drive buses, wait cantina tables and other humiliations conducive to heartwarming life lessons.An 11-year record at the Mexican box office fell the weekend before last, when class-clash comedy Nosotros los Nobles (We Are the Nobles) dislodged the 2002 Gael García Bernal drama The Crime of Father Amaro as the highest-grossing local film of all time. The sickly sweet whiff of Catholic corruption enticed audiences a decade back; this time it's the equally worn groove of the gulf between rich and poor in the country. Nosotros los Nobles riffs on the cunning scheme of a Mexico City millionaire who strips his kids of all their luxuries by staging a fake police raid, forcing them to drive buses, wait cantina tables and other humiliations conducive to heartwarming life lessons.
Director Gary Alazraki knows whereof he speaks: he is the son of Carlos Alazraki, an influential ad executive who has produced campaigns for presidential elections, as well as for Carlos Slim Helu, the billionaire who is the world's richest man and apparently worth 8% of Mexico's GDP. "Latin America is a region where middle class is very small," Alazraki Jr recently told Associated Press. "So I thought if you want to capture the mood of the public, that's the first place to look, the contrast between rich and poor." He's only the latest to come to that conclusion: Nosotros los Nobles was directly inspired by Luis Buñuel's 1949 comedy El Gran Calavera (The Great Madcap), which also features a modern-day Croesus reassessing his life.Director Gary Alazraki knows whereof he speaks: he is the son of Carlos Alazraki, an influential ad executive who has produced campaigns for presidential elections, as well as for Carlos Slim Helu, the billionaire who is the world's richest man and apparently worth 8% of Mexico's GDP. "Latin America is a region where middle class is very small," Alazraki Jr recently told Associated Press. "So I thought if you want to capture the mood of the public, that's the first place to look, the contrast between rich and poor." He's only the latest to come to that conclusion: Nosotros los Nobles was directly inspired by Luis Buñuel's 1949 comedy El Gran Calavera (The Great Madcap), which also features a modern-day Croesus reassessing his life.
Mexican cinema could use a reality check, too. Nosotros los Nobles is undoubtedly a chink of light for the industry – but it's still only the year's second most successful film, a long way behind The Croods, and is sure to be pushed further down as blockbuster season unfolds. The Crime of Father Amaro was actually seen by far more people (5.2 million against Nosotros los Nobles' 3.3 million.) And it's extraordinary that, in 2013, it's possible to be the reigning domestic film on a mere $15.5m (£10m) in what, in terms of admissions, is actually the fifth largest movie market in the world. $15m seems like nothing.Mexican cinema could use a reality check, too. Nosotros los Nobles is undoubtedly a chink of light for the industry – but it's still only the year's second most successful film, a long way behind The Croods, and is sure to be pushed further down as blockbuster season unfolds. The Crime of Father Amaro was actually seen by far more people (5.2 million against Nosotros los Nobles' 3.3 million.) And it's extraordinary that, in 2013, it's possible to be the reigning domestic film on a mere $15.5m (£10m) in what, in terms of admissions, is actually the fifth largest movie market in the world. $15m seems like nothing.
Put bluntly, there isn't the same passion for Mexican films as there is for cinema-going in Mexico. And it has a big problem on that score: no country has been more affected by Hollywood's behemoth presence over the border. The taste for US entertainment means the local industry has to kick hard just to keep its head above water. Even Canada – whose output has far less cultural clout abroad – has managed to produce close to 100 films a year recently; Mexico manages 50-70. Latin America in general is heavily Hollywood-dominated, and Mexico is no exception: homemade films had just a 6.1% share in 2010.Put bluntly, there isn't the same passion for Mexican films as there is for cinema-going in Mexico. And it has a big problem on that score: no country has been more affected by Hollywood's behemoth presence over the border. The taste for US entertainment means the local industry has to kick hard just to keep its head above water. Even Canada – whose output has far less cultural clout abroad – has managed to produce close to 100 films a year recently; Mexico manages 50-70. Latin America in general is heavily Hollywood-dominated, and Mexico is no exception: homemade films had just a 6.1% share in 2010.
There's been a recovery since the dark days of the mid-90s, when cinemas were flooded by US imports after the country joined the North American Free Trade Area, obliterating the industry overnight. But the wider feeling seems to be that the renaissance since Amores Perros sent a jolt of electricity around the world in 2001 has been a fragile, faltering one. It's no surprise that the gravitational pull of Los Angeles has proved too strong to resist, not just for name auteurs like Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón, but also for the below-the-line crew in their thousands who could have enriched the Mexican industry.There's been a recovery since the dark days of the mid-90s, when cinemas were flooded by US imports after the country joined the North American Free Trade Area, obliterating the industry overnight. But the wider feeling seems to be that the renaissance since Amores Perros sent a jolt of electricity around the world in 2001 has been a fragile, faltering one. It's no surprise that the gravitational pull of Los Angeles has proved too strong to resist, not just for name auteurs like Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón, but also for the below-the-line crew in their thousands who could have enriched the Mexican industry.
But Nosotros los Nobles proves that the traffic isn't just one-way. It's actually a Warner "local-language" production, part of the intensifying pattern of intimate US studio involvement in overseas markets. There's certainly a philosophical debate to be had about this trend. On the debit side, isn't this just another means of Hollywood maintaining its stranglehold? On the credit side, perhaps it's the Americans who can teach the Mexican film-makers the commercial imperative they need – adopting forms (like Nosotros' high-concept comedy) and marketing that can hold their own and fire up the mainstream. Warner actually have previous form on this front in Mexico: their 2010 romcom No Eres Tú, Soy Yo (It's Not You, It's Me) holds the No 5 spot in the domestic all-time list.But Nosotros los Nobles proves that the traffic isn't just one-way. It's actually a Warner "local-language" production, part of the intensifying pattern of intimate US studio involvement in overseas markets. There's certainly a philosophical debate to be had about this trend. On the debit side, isn't this just another means of Hollywood maintaining its stranglehold? On the credit side, perhaps it's the Americans who can teach the Mexican film-makers the commercial imperative they need – adopting forms (like Nosotros' high-concept comedy) and marketing that can hold their own and fire up the mainstream. Warner actually have previous form on this front in Mexico: their 2010 romcom No Eres Tú, Soy Yo (It's Not You, It's Me) holds the No 5 spot in the domestic all-time list.
There's no easy answer to that conundrum (and I'll be following up on the issue at greater length in a few weeks' time). But it's undeniable that Hollywood influence was already important in Mexico prior to the local-language trend. Iñárritu, Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro all purloined a kind of American dynamism or genre literacy, as well as private financing, that broke from the European-influenced art-film model that IMCINE, the Mexican public film-development organisation, had practised since the 1980s. Big neighbours can lend a helping hand, as well as smother; stories of rich and poor are rarely as simple they seem.There's no easy answer to that conundrum (and I'll be following up on the issue at greater length in a few weeks' time). But it's undeniable that Hollywood influence was already important in Mexico prior to the local-language trend. Iñárritu, Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro all purloined a kind of American dynamism or genre literacy, as well as private financing, that broke from the European-influenced art-film model that IMCINE, the Mexican public film-development organisation, had practised since the 1980s. Big neighbours can lend a helping hand, as well as smother; stories of rich and poor are rarely as simple they seem.
• In next week's After Hollywood, the Turkish film industry heads back to Gallipoli. Which global cinematic stories would you like to see covered in the column? Let us know in the comments below.• In next week's After Hollywood, the Turkish film industry heads back to Gallipoli. Which global cinematic stories would you like to see covered in the column? Let us know in the comments below.
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