Search - Sueno de Luces on DVD

For those of us who don't know "El Juli"

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/01/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Three Stars for a Five Star movie? SUENO de LUCES (Dream of the Ring) is a wonderful little movie that despite its technical flaws is well worth your attention. The technical flaws first: the Spanish speaking cast for some unapparent reason is dubbed and the sound mixing has so much background street noise that it makes the movie seem like a homemade amateur shoot. The filming is acceptable until there are night scenes or even scenes in the shadows at which point the screen is black without visible movement. There. Those are the reasons for giving the film 3 stars.AS for content this is a 5 star movie. Briefly, the story concerns a family of five (expecting a sixth) who are about to be thrown out of their home because they are poor. The father and the son sweep the local bullring seats to earn the pittance that barely keeps them alive. The son, Juli, is an excellent baseball player, and because of the dire financial straights, the family signs a contract with three men (think The Three Stooges) to "sign for fame and fortune" as a baseball player. Meanwhile, Juli dreams of being a Matador, hears that he must visit a ranch to face the cows and bulls in order to become a matador, and so he sneaks on a truck delivering a bull to its ranch. While on the trip he sleeps and dreams of the glamour of his success as a Matador. This is where the movie opens up and despite a bit of corny dialogue, we are gifted with the opportunity to watch Juli fight the bulls. The 'actor' portraying Juli is none other that Julian Lopez "El Juli" who apparently is a young 16-year-old famous bullfighter in Mexico! (This information has to be gained by searching the internet using his name - for those of us who are ignorant of bullfighting today). For once a film shows the pageantry and beauty of bullfighting. El Juli is a beautiful lad who is as graceful and sophisticated a matador as one can imagine. His movements are like watching a beautifully choreographed ballet: his levitation as he stabs the picadors into the bull is sheer magic. There is no goring of either the matador or the bull in this movie - only the brilliance of the skill of the matadors who train for the ring. The costumes are elegant, the crowd response is credible, and the glory of El Juli is unbelievable. The remainder of the cast is good and the message from the movie is worth hearing. There are some over-the-top stretches of slapstick to endure, but these distractions and all of the technical flaws are subsumed by the grace of Julian Lopez' performance in the ring. This movie is well worth watching for El Juli alone!"