Sibling Rivalry, Sports Industry Corruption, and Drug Lords

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

Not too many films from Mexico get distribution in the United States, although Mexican directors like Guillermo Del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Alfonso Cuarón have found success in Hollywood. Cuarón’s brother Carlos, co-writer of his breakthrough feature “Y Tu Mamá También,” made his directorial debut with “Rudo y Cursi” (2008), which was a huge hit in his native Mexico but got only limited distribution and lukewarm reception in the U.S. last year.

Almost exactly one year ago, “Rudo y Cursi” came out on BluRay from Sony Classics, but Sony’s insistence at keeping it priced in the $30-$40 range has ensured that few people who haven’t already heard of it will bother to take a chance buying their own copies. Luckily this summer’s closeout of Hollywood Video’s assets saw brand-new unopened copies selling for $12 and less, a price that makes the film well-worth adding to one’s personal collection.

The comedy-drama follows the rise to fame of two headstrong brothers in a rural peasant village. After a chance encounter with a scheming talent scout, they suddenly find themselves rich and famous in Mexico City, playing professional soccer on rival teams. Naturally success leads to excesses like gambling, drugs, and women, and a climactic game in which the brothers face each other on the field, each with his own rabid fans. The inevitable resolution is only partly predictable and drastically different from how a Hollywood film would end.

Now why would an American viewer want to bother with a movie about soccer? The international frenzy around that sport has always been incomprehensible to a public far more enamored with American football, baseball, basketball, and in this part of the country, hockey. Well as it turns out, there are almost no scenes of soccer games, and the few that there are focus more on the fans’ reactions than on the games themselves. So that seems to cut out the viewers who really do want to see films about soccer, while confusing soccer-haters who still dismiss it as a soccer movie.

On one level, “Rudo y Cursi” is a sports movie, but the sporting elements are less important than the themes of brotherhood, personal dreams, dealing with fame and riches, and the general socio-economic situation of modern Mexico. The plot develops sports stereotypes into a much richer story of humanity and survival in a harsh world, a civilization that has done all it can to crush the innocence of simple people content to work hard for a living and enjoy their free time doing what they love best.

The film’s title comes from the brothers’ soccer-playing nicknames derived from their playing styles and personal attitudes, “Rudo” meaning rough and tough, “Cursi” meaning corny. It’s also an apt description of the film itself and its balancing frank, hard-edged social commentary with moments of broad comedy and shameless sentimentality, still tinged with an undercurrent of bitter irony.

We see an obvious love of the game of soccer and affection for the camaraderie of players and fans alike, undercut by depictions of the widespread corruption among coaches, players, and big-stakes gamblers. We see the ultra-modern big city containing both untold wealth and extreme poverty. We see the fast life of the city and the leisurely pace of village life. We see powerful drug lords exploiting the demand for vices and willing to torture, maim, or kill ruthlessly to settle debts, yet at the same time they build much-needed public works projects for the communities in their territories.

Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, the stars of “Y Tu Mamá También,” are excellent in the title roles, developing from naïve country hicks to blasé celebrities out to satisfy their every whim. One brother’s weakness for gambling drives him into drug addition and debt to the mob, while the other’s preference for the music industry and infatuation with a shallow TV star leads to a disappointing slump on the playing field. Argentinean star Guillermo Francella is wonderful as a money-grubbing manager who nevertheless is poetically philosophic about professional sports as a force for good in the world.

Sony’s BluRay has a very good high-definition transfer of the picture and a high-quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack in Spanish only, with optional English and French subtitles. The bonus features include the cheesy music video featured in the movie, a nice making-of featurette, and a very informative (and lengthy) interview with the director and two stars conducted by the editor of “Creative Screenwriting” magazine.

Just for fun, there’s a lively and amusing commentary track by the director and the two stars (mostly in Spanish with subtitles), but Luna and Bernal ad-lib in character, as if they were two real ex-soccer players and the film was based on their lives. This seems merely ridiculous unless you’ve already learned from the other bonus features that Cuarón had originally intended to make the film as a mockumentary instead of a straight fictional story.

RUDO Y CURSI on BluRay – Movie: A / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: A-

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