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Beto Gómez creates a very personal style in his directorial debut with "El Agujero (The Hole)". Released in 1997 and shown in the prestigious San Seba ... | Beto Gómez creates a very personal style in his directorial debut with "El Agujero (The Hole)". Released in 1997 and shown in the prestigious San Sebastián Film Festival in Spain, it was also nominated for Best Picture in Bogotá. Roberto Cobo, an actor with around a hundred films in his history, with even two films released after his death in 2002, plays the main role.
This very raw and dark film was mainly founded by him and his friends with a budget around $50,000. Part of this lack of resources, the aesthetics choices and especially the film score makes us believe that it's a "B" movie from the '70s. Merging documentary footage during the Day of the Deads, Gómez plays with this mixed technique that has been gained ground in the past years. Great examples are Gustavo Fontán's "El Arbol (The Tree)" or Carlos Sorin "El Camino de San Diego (Road to St. Diego)", both of them screened in the last Tribeca Film Festival.
It's not a film for everybody: Gómez pushes the "B" texture to a limit where some scenes give a sense of discomfort or ridiculousness, but it's definitely worthy. In an interview he said that the only way to make movies in Mexico is to make them instead of talking about it... to be like a sparring, receiving the punches until the opportunity arrives" . He challenges the audiences: love it or hate it. For his characters, and probably for him too, to be outside or inside is exactly the same. |