I know this might come out as a little pretentious, but to fully get the movie you've got to be at least acquainted with a little bit of recent Mexican history. The references are funny but well carried out: the University's strike of 1999, the massive concert at Avandaro in the 60s, the Oxxo/K/7eleven (convenience stores) as a place of nocturnal gathering and longing for alcohol, cigarettes and cheap burritos, the high-scale parties crashed by ironic outsiders, Tlatelolco as a locus of the tragic 1985 earthquake--all of these refer, not quite just satirically but neither quite seriously, to essential turning points of the history of Mexico City from the second half of the XXth century on. In a sense, the movie is a road movie--telling the story of the City from the nostalgic perspective of someone who has dwelled at its most intense venues. You get to see the innards of massive department buildings, the zoo, a homeless performing its deliciously enticing, endless discourse on his life, the national university at its more heightened political ventures, downtown, marginal pulquerias (places where pulque, is sold), and the demonstrations at the middle of a high-speed road. There is not much more of a common thread amongst all the scenes apart from looking for an old, decadent hero that personally influenced the main characters; the longing for love, the running away from untold fears. But not much more is needed; if you've ever been on an all-night party at the City, indifferently to your economic background, you'll find yourself reflected in the sequences.
Review of Gueros
