Huesera

A Mexican horror movie that explores the dark side of motherhood and its impact on a new mother, Valeria, who is tormented by an entity that cannot be named. The film takes a unique approach to the body horror and haunted house genres and presents them in an artfully crafted vessel that brings the characters and their relationships to life. The film won two major awards at the Tribeca Film Festival last summer.

Director Michelle Garza Cervera has a strong grasp on millennial color palettes and each shot in the film is beautifully composed and lit. The score and sound design also stand out for their ability to spike cortisol levels and make the Spanish-language punk tracks in the film seem soothing by comparison.

The most engaging aspect of the film is the characterization of Val, a woman caught between what she wants, what she thinks she should want, and what society wants for her. Val is a rebel with an anti-authoritarian punk rock past, and the idea that she is now a "Mama" first and a person second clearly bothers her. She doesn't take naturally to anything maternal, and her family's teasing about the time she.

"Huesera" begins with "Valeria" dropping off flowers at the base of the Virgen Monumental de Ocuilan and ends right after she participates in a restorative, native rite. In between, we find out that Valeria is a former punk-rocker with a love of bass guitars, power tools and a certain "Octavia." What is she in the present?

That is the central question is this rather well-done entry. The Valeria of the present is a woman who has (uneasily) embraced a conventional marriage to "Raul," an ad exec with wealthy parents. She lives in an upscale apartment, and she is pregnant with their first child. Yet as time passes, she appears to be the victim of increasingly violent hallucinatory episodes that lead her family and husband to grow both concerned for and irritated with her. "Pull it together," is the implied mantra; "a child is a blessing."

While the obvious comparison is to "Rosemary's Baby," the film - to its credit- veers more in the direction of such psychological thriller/horror films as Altman's "Images." And despite a fairly large cast, this movie really is about a single woman's POV - Valeria (played here by Natalia Solián) - and it is her world -- her frustrations, her fears, her sense of ambiguity, rejection and pain -- that are front and center for the duration of the film. Her attempts to negotiate the expectations of others -- often cruelly rejected by those others -- lead her to an increased debilitation that almost result in absolute tragedy. It is her (similarly outcast) aunt who helps her on her way to a restoration of self.

The film is a definite slow burn. But if you enjoy a more overtly psychological exploration of a woman-at-the-margins, torn between seemingly opposing social contexts, this might work for you.

Despite some cool horror scenes, Huesera is a boring, slow-paced drama that doesn't really go anywhere, nor does it leave any sort of message.

In the film there is the subplot of the main character and her gay relationship with her best friend, which is used as an excuse that she has a second identity, but this relationship never really comes to anything relevant, and neither does her relationship with her husband to be honest. It is simply the typical dose of mandatory forced inclusion these days.

Also many of the decisions and actions of the characters (especially some very important ones) are quite questionable, not to say stupid, and it is impossible not to cringe at the protagonist every time. Not to mention that the acting, especially of the main characters, is quite mediocre. It seems that in order not to include any caucasian characters (because there are no caucasians in Mexico, of course) they chose any actor they could find.

In itself a boring movie as a drama, and dull as a horror, Huesera fails twice as much.

This movie is lost between trying to create, horror, and a female empowering movie about motherhood. Sadly, is none of them. Instead we get an annoying and irresponsible 30yo lady who at the beginning wants to be a mother, the. Regrets it because when she was young she drop a baby to whom nothing happened. She hallucinates strange hunting images in an attempt to stop her pregnancy(?). It's hard to care about her journey when all she does is avoid responsibility and constantly cries to make herself look like the victim. I laughed at the dumb dialogue and stupid decisions that everyone makes. This is lost film that doesn't know what it wants to be. Even if it attempts to be political, which is not, is just an immature person who doesn't what she wants.

This should not be categorized as a horror movie. You can see from other reviews that people are upset at their expectations not being met. Although it does have some horror-like scares, it is a different experience altogether, more of a character study. However, the way that the story unfolds requires patience and an open mind. There are some allegorical elements that are not explicitly made clear in the movie. This could lead to some viewers feeling like the story leaves too many details unexplained. I thought it was well-written and gave an interesting look into the experience of a young Mexican woman dealing with the limited options imposed on her by family and society. The few supernatural elements sprinkled in are a smaller part of the story, which is mostly a psychological drama. I ended up liking the main character, so that influenced my enjoyment of the film, but not every viewer is going to understand or support her choices.