HURRICANE SEASON/ Temporada de huracane snarlings
Mexico, 2023, 99 minutes, Colour.
Edgar Trevino, Andres Cordaz, Kat Rigoni, Guss Morales, Paloma Alvamar, Ernesto Melendez.
Directed by Elisa Miller.
This is a very moody visit to a small Mexican town. It is a close adaptation of a celebrated Mexican novel.
The opening, a group of young boys discovers a dead body floating in the water. The structure of the film is in chapters, each focusing on a particular character, the connection with the murdered person. There is an ongoing time thrust with the narrative but also some of the chapters going back in time exploring and developing the characters and bringing them together for the ultimate climax.
The central character is Luismo aged 20, frequent of a centre, particularly for gay men, managed by the deadcharacter, La Bruja, known as The Witch, a dominating, large figure, dressed in black, encouraging customers, arranging liaisons and atmosphere of local decadence.. Another character, Yes enia, is jealous of her cousin, Luismo, difficulties at home, following him to The Witch’s centre and running away shocked.
Other characters include Luismo’s stepfather, Munra, limping with a crutch, available as a driver. And there is Norma, very young, pregnant from sexual abuse from her father, friendly with Luismo, a deadly experience with the birth of the child, her going to hospital, the discovery about her age.
The other principal character is another 20-year-old, Brando, his father abandoning his mother for another woman, living at home with his mother, surly in his behaviour, fascinated by The Witch, befriending Luismo, some sexual encounters with him, and a plan to steal The Witch’s alleged money and gold coins and escape from the time.
Luismo eventually wants a change, conscious of what happened to Norma, beholden to The Witch, but falling out because he allegedly stole her money (which Brando had). Failing to find any secret money and coins, Brando confronts The Witch and brutally attacks, demanding that Luismo wield the final blow.
No major conclusion… Just the arrest of Brando, then Luismo and Munra.
A mood piece, tempestuous, set in the hurricane season, characters who find they have no way out.