Search - El Misterio de los Almendros on DVD

Mrs Open Mind & the gay detectives

Enrique Torres | San Diegotitlan, Califas | 01/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mexican film director,Jaime Humberto Hermosillo Dona Herlinda and Her Son, often compared to Spain's Pedro Aldomovar crerates a funny , black comedy that is part mystery part social commentary and all fun. The openly gay director creates a couple of characters in Alfonso/Alejandro and Javier/Gilberto( they adopt new names for their gay identity) who are a couple of private eyes assigned to get the goods on Dona Josefina, aka " Mrs Open Mind." She is an eccentric widow who lives in an outrageous(worth watching the movie for)hacienda where she invites gays, intellectuals and artists to party. The dicks must pose as gays. One has no problem as he appears to be gay and the other friend struggles with the assignment. This dilemna makes for some very funny situations. They spend two nights at the hacienda, looking for clues and unraveling the mystery. They discover a lesbian lover who is posing as the maid and with each revelation, the dark comedy suddenly takes on serious consequences. The movies mystery is unvieled at the end but only after some outrageous,shocking, somber moments. There is quite a bit of(male) nudity. There is female nudity too in the opening, hysterical, love scene that takes place while Javier and Alfonso are having a business phone conversation. The dialogue between the friends is very funny while one is having sex with his girl friend. This is a very good black comedy that I would recommend to people who like mysteries with a twist. The translations in the subtitles are pretty good so that shouldn't be a problem if you don't speak Spanish. This is one mommy and daddy might want to watch alone, after the kiddies are in bed, unless you feel like answering questions like, why does that man not have a bathing suit on? Recommended for foreign film enthusiasts."