La ilusión viaja en tranvía

It’s as if Buñuel had just discovered image depth. The large number of shots composed with depth rather than breadth is justified by Illusion’s affiliation with road movies. It’s rather strange, given that it is a road movie limited to the space of a single (big) city. A travelling couple, proportionally corresponding to a couple from slapstick, get to know a sample of Mexican society over the course of two days during the Alemán years, a period of unavoidable modernisation. The church, the bourgeoisie, hard work, low pay. Buñuel is critical, but not very ironic, with the exception of the introductory commentary. Illusion Travels by Streetcar is essentially a film mostly connected with Mexico. Without deeper knowledge of the political context, you probably won’t enjoy it much. Instead – like me – you will rather just endure it. 55% (20.08.2011)