2 Best Movies to Watch by Blanca Guerra

Staff & contributors
With an acrobat in a sanitarium, elephant trunks spouting blood, and a religious cult whose patron saint is a rape victim, Santa Sangre isn’t going to be an easy watch, especially with the avant-garde direction of the iconic Alejandro Jodorowsky. It’s tough to watch the explicit scenes, both of Fenix’s childhood circus reality and his adult hallucinations, with the hallucinations visually recalling his childhood trauma. But through these terrifying, freaky images, Jodorowsky takes his own memories and crafts it into a twisted, but deeply personal psychosexual nightmare, confronting the exploitative nature of faith and family through various circus acts. Santa Sangre is one of its kind.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

Actor: Adan Jodorowsky, Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Brontis Jodorowsky, Faviola Elenka Tapia, Gustavo Aguilar Tejada, Guy Stockwell, Héctor Ortega, Hilario 'Popitekus' Vargas, Jacobo Lieberman, Jesús Juárez, Joaquín García Vargas, Sabrina Dennison, Sergio Bustamante, Teo Jodorowsky, Teo Tapia, Thelma Tixou, Valérie Crouzet, Zonia Rangel Mora

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Rating: NC-17

Ambitious and sincere, Where the Tracks End is a sweet coming of age centered on a tender community and mutual aid in the face of worker exploitation. Alternating between the young son of a traveling worker adjusting to a new town and an inspector tasked with informing small schools of an initiative that will force their doors closed, the film loses the chance to be impactful with either. This love letter to teaching and the importance of education is admirable as it holds together the community element of the script. Although the impact goes off-track due to its lack of commitment to one solid narrative, the heart behind it (and the children's innocent will to live a better life) shines through every so often.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family

Actor: Adriana Barraza, Blanca Guerra, Clementina Guadarrama, Fátima Molina, Gabriela Cartol, Guillermo Villegas, Jero Medina, Leonardo Alonso, Tete Espinoza

Director: Ernesto Contreras