Rudo Y Cursi

Latin American superstars Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna reunite on screen for the first time since 2001’s Y Tu Mamá También in this likeable and engrossing tale of brotherly rivalry, professional football and celebrity culture.

When Mexican football scout Batuta (Guillermo Francella) discovers a couple of ‘diamonds in the rough’ in an impoverished village he changes their lives forever. Yokel siblings Tato (Bernal) and Beto (Luna) move to Mexico City and find success and fame. But sweet-natured Tato really wants to be a singer and Beto has a gambling addiction. Both will pay the price for following their passions rather than their talents.

Writer/director Carlos Cuarón’s zippy screenplay and frenetic direction elevate this basic rags-to-riches story to something more satirical, clever and funny. In making the morally questionable Batuta the narrator of the story, Cuarón both pays homage to the deferred narration of these actors’ previous collaboration and allows himself scope to make some very caustic comments on Latin America’s sports and entertainment industries. The widespread corruption in the Mexican football premiership is laid bare, as is a certain endemic degeneracy and violence in Mexican culture as a whole. But Cuarón also finds warmth in families and mothers and the simplicity of music.

(15) 101min. Selected release from Fri 26 Jun. See feature, page 16.