intro = Miracle Alley
Directed by Jorge Fons
Opens in Sydney at the Verona Cinema on May 30; in Melbourne at Cinema Como on June 6
Reviewed by Pip Hinman
In Mexico City there is a place — called Miracle Alley — where miracles never happen, but poor people still dream on. There must be thousands of places like this all over the world, and this universal tale of dashed hopes and thwarted loves forms the basis for four interconnected episodes.
The first is the story of a tavern owner in his mid-50s. Rutilio (Ernesto Gomez Cruz) works six days a week — partly, it turns out, because he isn't keen to spend more time with his wife. At this stage of his life, he tells Abel the barber, one has to find happiness any way he can. His search for happiness leads him seduce a young man with whom he becomes infatuated. The affair lasts only a short time, however, until Chava (Juan Manuel Bernal), Rutilio's macho son, dramatically intervenes to save the family's honour.
The second episode tells the story of adolescent Alma (Salma Hayek), who fantasises about leaving her poverty and virginity behind. She is being wooed by Abel, but when he leaves for the US to earn "big money" to come back and marry her, she decides to accept a wealthy widower's offer of marriage. That falls through (he dies), and she goes for another offer — from a pimp from the wealthier side of town.
The third episode tells the story of Susanita (Margarita Sanz), the apartment block's landlady. Susanita is desperate for someone to love. The Tarot cards foretell a man coming into her life, but will her romantic dreams be fulfilled?
The last episode, the return of Chava and Abel from the US several years later — just as poor — concludes the story.
Based on the novel by Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, Miracle Alley is a quirky but ultimately sad tale of the lives of people for whom there are not many choices, and for whom poverty dictates the choices they make. Dreams don't cost much, but making them come real is a very different matter.
Fons presents an unusually candid look at ordinary people's lives and dreams without passing judgment. The film is rather repetitive in places, something that could have been avoided, I suspect, with a little more editing.