Por Si No Te Vuelvo a Ver

(If I Never See You Again)

Director: Juan Pablo Villaseñor

Starring: Jorge Galván, Leticia Huijara

Country: Mexico

Subtitle: English

This charming Mexican comedy tells the story of a quintet of elderly men who escape from a nursing home in hopes of love, music, and adventure. It is no great work of new Mexican cinema, but neither is it the slap-stick humor Mexico is regrettably known for. This movie is okay for all audiences, and both young and old will find it appealing.

Abre Los Ojos

(Open Your Eyes)
Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Starring: Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Najwa Nimri

Country: Spain

Subtitles: English

Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) is the classic Spanish film behind the popular US remake, Vanilla Sky, also staring Cruz along with Tom Cruise. While the Cruise feature is highly stylized in its cinematographic approach, Abre Los Ojos is more theatrical, relying on more dramatic elements to move the film, such as more robust imagery involving masks. Where as in Vanilla Sky, Cruz's character was a dancer, in this version she plays an actress who moonlights as a park mime, emphasizing the superficiality of the protagonist's relationship with her. The two films both stand alone and are well worth seeing, however audiences expecting the more hallucinogenic, rock'n'roll style of Vanilla Sky will find the much lower budger Abre Los Ojos slightly bland.