Best Latin American Movies

[Lucas88]

I've begun to watch more Latin American movies lately. For some reason I've been watching a lot of Guatemalan cinema even though I'd never paid much attention to that tiny nation before. I intend to work my way through every country from Guatemala all the way down to the tip of the Southern Cone choosing from the movies that look the most interesting to me from each one. Through this I will be able to get a feel for the cinema of every region of Latin America as well as its variety of Spanish and its societal idiosyncrasies.

I have to say that I'm impressed with the Guatemalan cinema which I've seen so far. It seems quite well-made and with interesting themes. I also see Latin American cinema as a viable alternative to today's US cinema which seems to be getting even more garbage with each year. US cinema used to be awesome, the best in the whole motherfuckin' world, but now it mostly sucks. As an avid Hispanophile I'd rather immerse myself in Latin American cinema. I prefer the Spanish language and Latin American culture anyway.

Here are some Guatemalan movies that I've recently watched:

La Llorona (2019)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10767168/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2



La Llorona is a story of horror and magical realism which recounts the trial of former dictator General Enrique Monteverde following his brutal genocide of the country's native peoples and in the midst of civil unrest. The movie was nominated for several awards including the Golden Globes' best non-English film.

The movie is not available on YouTube. I think that I watched it either on Pelisplus or Cuevana.


Ovnis en Zacapa (2015)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4467714/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOykQr6180E&t=772s[/youtube]



University professor Rober Daneri quits his day job and becomes a UFO hunter when a TV company offers him the position of host for their new TV show. However, while investigating a case in the town of Zacapa things take a turn for the worse and the protagonist finds himself in a dilemma.

I watched this movie on YouTube.


Pol: Una Aventura en la USAC (2014)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3756036/



Movie about school bullying in which the protagonist Pol and her companion Flaco are pursued by a gang of bullies while searching the campus for a lost document. Got an IMDb rating of 7.4/10.

Again no subtitles are given in the YouTube link. Non-Hispanophones might be able to find the movie on Netflix.



All in all I liked the three movies and found the Guatemalan Spanish very similar to southern Mexican Spanish and easy to understand. I'll add some Honduran movies next time.

Edit - Oh, I forgot to mention: I want any of you guys who are cinema buffs to recommend good Latin American movies of your own too!

[Lucas88]

Now I've moved down to Honduras and have watched a few movies from that country. Honduran cinema doesn't seem as voluminous as its Guatemalan counterpart but I've already found a couple a good movies. I'll put them here:


El Regreso de la Llorona (2021)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10503798/



It seems like in Mexico and Central America everything has to be about La Llorona. But this movie is not just another hackneyed La Llorona-themed horror movie. It is actually very well-made and has an interesting plot and a good cast of characters. In this movie a group of teenage girls are invited by a gang of wealthy bad boys to a party at their mansion in the woods of Sambo Creek but before long it becomes apparent that the boys have bad intentions. Everything gets out of hand which results in the accidental death of one of the girls. The boys attempt to hide the body but soon they all become targets of the supernatural revenge of La Llorona, the restless ghost of a woman who was murdered by a psychotic man in a cabin at the beginning of the movie. This movie is really worth watching.

This movie isn't available on YouTube. I watched it on Pelisplus. The version which I watched included English subtitles.


El Paletero (2016)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5611112/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1



I've just watched this awesome over-the-top revenge movie today with my Mexican girl. What can I say? This movie is the Honduran Kill Bill!

I watched this movie on Pelisplus too but it had no English subtitles. Maybe the Netflix version has them.



Now that we've moved a bit further south from the bastion of understandable Spanish that is Mexico, my Mexican girl and I definitely notice differences in the language. My Mexicana's impression is that the Honduran Spanish spoken in the movies sounds like a mixture of Mexican and Caribbean Spanish. We especially noticed some idiosyncratic features such as the stress moved onto the final syllable in the imperative form (e.g., tomá instead of the regular toma) as well as similar shift of stress in second-person singular verb forms (e.g., querés instead of quieres). However, the dialogue was pretty easy to understand once we became a little more accustomed to the rhythm of the language. It was an interesting experience since I'd never heard Honduran Spanish before and didn't know what to expect.

There are a few more Honduran movies which I'd like to watch such as the sci-fi El Xenda as well as Días de Luz but I can't find any working links on Pelisplus or Cuevana. I guess I'll have to see if they are available on Netflix when I'm at my bro's house.

[Lucas88]

Los viajes del viento is a great movie. Innovatively contemplatively captured landscapes and the slow disclosure of the true characters of the characters are the channel in which this wonderful story unfolds.

Los Viajes del Viento (2009)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1426374/

I just did a search on it and it seems like a nice little movie set in Colombia. From what I've read the plot is about an accordionist who decides to make one last journey through the north of the country in order to return his instrument to his old teacher. I'll be sure to watch this movie soon. In fact here is the full movie on YouTube albeit without subtitles:




I'm really looking forwards to watching more Colombian cinema. It looks really good and voluminous and I have a lot of fascination for that magnificent country. I've just finished watching a few movies from Nicaragua. First I've gotta get through Costa Rica and Panama and then I can begin with Colombia.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Lucas88]

My Mexicana and I only watched two movies from Nicaragua as opposed to the stipulated minimum of three. Nicaraguan cinema doesn't seem very voluminous or even good for that matter.

La Pantalla Desnuda (2014)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2801316/



A drama about a young college girl who is the victim of violation of privacy when her boyfriend records her with his phone during the sexual act and an unscrupulous acquaintance leaks that erotic recording on the internet. I thought that the movie would be good since the cover looks awesome and generates a sense of intrigue but the movie doesn't have any significant ending and the plot is quite mediocre. US B movie level of quality.

I watched this movie either on Pelisplus or Cuevana.


La Yuma (2009)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1581322/?ref_=tt_mv_close



A movie about a rebellious tomboy from the ghettos of Managua who aspires to become a boxer. The movie isn't bad and the protagonist is interesting and wins over your sympathy but if you are expecting some epic Rocky-esque rise to fame and success then this movie won't deliver. The girl has one fight at a local boxing event and then gets frustrated with the boxing world and joins a circus to make money. That's how the movie ends. Another weird anticlimactic ending.

I noticed that La Yuma had a French director. A word of advice to my Latino panas: if you wanna make awesome epic movies forget about that European crap; you've gotta imitate gringo cinema and its great classics of the 80s! That's the formula.

Full movie with English subtitles




As I previously mentioned, I've only watched these two Nicaraguan movies but I'm under the impression that it's not particularly good or well-made. I remember that @gsjackson mentioned something about the countries of Central America being failed states full of civil unrest in my thread on places with optimal climates. Is Nicaragua a particularly bad place? I'm under the impression that it's even worse than Honduras in terms of stability and material conditions. That might explain why its cinematic output isn't too good. But still, I'd be happy to try more Nicaraguan cinema if somebody could recommend me a good movie. I love Latin America and want to see the best that all of its countries have to offer.

The Nicaraguan Spanish in the first movie was extremely easy to understand and seemed smoother than the relatively rougher and more distorted Spanish of Honduras (even though I still like the latter). The Spanish in the second movie was a bit harder to understand in places because it heavily featured the speech of the uneducated ghettos and gang life of Managua but it wasn't too bad. My Mexicana and I noticed that in Nicaragua they still use the "special imperative" used in Honduras (i.e., "no te metás" instead of the regular "no te metas"). They also use the same second-person singular of "comés" instead of "comes". That actually surprised me and my Mexicana. We thought that only Argentinians and Uruguayans spoke like that.

Anyway, next up is Costa Rica. Costa Rican cinema looks a lot more voluminous and varied with a lot of seemingly interesting movies. I can't wait to dig it!