A Celebration of Diversity and Artistry: Amazon’s Cassandro A Wrestling Biopic to Watch and Boca Chica The Dominican Film That Won Big at Tribeca
In today’s movie review, I have two reviews to share in one short video. First, is the Amazon Prime original film, "Cassandro." This biopic tells the true story of Cassandro, the Exotico character created by Saul Armendaris, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, Texas who rose to international stardom. I share the significance of the Exotico tradition in Mexican wrestling and the cultural impact of this unique character. I was so impressed with Gael Garcia Bernal's impressive portrayal of Cassandro and how the film beautifully showcases his journey of self-acceptance and challenging societal norms. Gael Garcia Bernal embodied the character not just of the real person but his wrestling alter ego, Cassandro, as well. This has to be an Oscar worthy performance for him and I hope the academy sees that and nominates him.
Next, I discussed the Dominican film "Boca Chica," which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. I got to watch it at the New York Latino Film Festival last weekend. This heartfelt film follows the story of Desi, a twelve-year-old with dreams of becoming a singer. I loved the film's authentic portrayal of life in the Dominican Republic and its exploration of familial tensions and the pursuit of artistic ambitions. The films explores very sensitive topics and themes which can be uncomfortable for some audiences to watch. As a Dominican myselves, I was very proud to see our country shine on the big screen.
Both films offer compelling narratives and showcase the talent of diverse filmmakers. If you enjoy wrestling, Lucha Libre, or stories of resilience, "Cassandro" is a film you won't want to miss. And for those who appreciate insightful storytelling and a glimpse into Dominican culture, "Boca Chica" is a must-watch. As of the writing of this blog, Boca Chica is not available on any streaming service as they are currently doing the festival rounds.
Now, here are three key takeaways from these films:
1️⃣ "Cassandro" reminds us of the power of self-acceptance and the importance of embracing who we truly are.
2️⃣ "Boca Chica" showcases the aspirations and struggles of a young girl chasing her dreams, and highlights the rich culture of the Dominican Republic.
3️⃣ Both films serve as a reminder of the impact that diversity and representation have in the world of cinema, and the importance of telling stories from different perspectives.
Transcript
Please note: This transcript is auto-generated, so there may be spelling and grammar mistakes.
Hello, and welcome to today's video. My name is Giovanni. If you are new here, welcome on this channel. I like to post movie reviews, travel, and New York City content. So if you're into that sort of thing, please consider subscribing. I am working towards getting a thousand subscribers by the end of the year, and I would love to have a thousand subscribers. So if you could help me out by subscribing, that would be amazing. In today's video, I'm reviewing two films I watched this weekend.
The Amazon Prime's new film, Cassandro and the Dominican film, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Boca Chica. First is the Amazon Prime original film, Cassandro, which is a biopic and follows the true story of Cassandro, the exotico character created by Saul Armendadis, a gay amateur wrestler who rose to international stardom. If you're not familiar with what an exotico is in Mexican wrestling, an exotico is a luchador who cross dresses or assumes feminine characteristics that can challenge the machismo of the sport and the culture. There's an article that I read on The Guardian.com that goes into what an exotico is and what they mean for lucha libre. And in the article it says, exoticos are an almost century old tradition in the sport. The first was Dizzy Gardenia Davis, who performed in Arena, Mexico, the cathedral of lucha libre in 1941. Exoticos were just as athletic as any other wrestler, but wore extravagant outfits and makeup, too. Back then, however, exoticos were just characters to be played in the ring, often for laughs and often to be vanquished by a more straightforwardly matchup character.
Even if the wrestlers were gay, they were not open about it. If you are a fan of wrestling and lucha libra, I think you are going to like this movie. I really enjoyed it. Let's wait for the siren to go by, because God forbid I decide to record a video and a siren doesn't drive by. Cassandra's origin story, although sad, is a story of self acceptance and changing the norm. Gael Garcia bernardo was so good as Cassandra. If they don't nominate him for an Oscar, I'm gonna be very upset, because he embodied that character. He did the real person justice.
He was so good, and I think he was the perfect person to play Cassandra. He really committed. I was really impressed with his work. Cassandra was directed by Roger Ross Williams, and originally he was supposed to do a short documentary on the person that plays Cassandra on Saul Armendaris. But after having a conversation with him and learning his story, he was so inspired that he was like, no, this is a movie. So he decided he co wrote the movie, and now it's this beautiful story that you can watch from Amazon Prime. So there's so much that is the real Cassandra experience, that yearning for acceptance from his father and then learning to accept himself. I really appreciated that the movie was in spanish.
The whole movie was in Spanish. There are some instances where Cassandra speaks English because he was born in El Paso. I mean, he grew up in El Paso, but 95% of the film is in Spanish, with subtitles, of course. And I really appreciated that because sometimes they do biopics on people from another race, another culture, and the whole movie is in English when this person is from a whole nother culture that speaks another language. Like, I watched this biopic of a woman in the Dominican Republic and whole thing was in English, and the movie was set in, like, the Dominican Republic. And I'm like, okay. So I really appreciated that the filmmakers took a very authentic approach and made the film in Spanish. Also, Bad Bunny is in this movie.
I don't know why. Maybe they just wanted to use his name. I don't know. But his role was not necessary. The way that they make it out to be in the trailer, it seems like he has a big role, but he has, like, five scenes and majority of them, you saw them in the trailer. So I'm not sure why he was in this, but I don't think it was necessary to tell the story. Okay, just to give you a little backstory, there might be some spoilers here if you haven't seen the movie. But Saulu's story is very sad.
He was the product of an affair and his mom never got over the guy. To this day, when he's older, they would drive to a baseball field, a baseball field where the dad coaches and they would just, like, spiral him. So she never got over him. After Saul, Cassandra came out of the closet at 15. His dad didn't want anything to do with him. So the mom was always blaming him, Saul, for the reason the dad didn't want to be with them. But in reality, the dad was married with a whole family, and even when Saul was little, he didn't want them around. So his mom lived, like, a really sad life.
And I just feel so sad watching her. The lady that played her did a really good job. And the movie shows how Saul, through wrestling and through becoming this character, this exotico character, how he found self acceptance and community and gained the people respect. Because at the time, people didn't respect exoticos, but people just fell in love with him to the point that he was invited to wrestle one of Mexico's biggest star at the moment, El Ijo del Santo. And he wrestled him for the world champion at this arena in Mexico City, which helped his career. I like the direction that the director, Roger Ross Williams, took. He did a really good job. I also liked how the film looked.
He had this greedy vibe to it that I really liked. Overall, I give this movie three and a half stars. If you're a fan of wrestling, a fan of Lucha Libre, or if you just want to watch a feel good film about a man overcoming adversity and proving everybody wrong, I highly recommend that you watch Cassandra on Amazon Prime. Next, we have the Dominican film Boca Chica, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, and it was awarded the Nora Ephraim Award, which is an award given to female filmmakers that are having their North American premiere or world premiere at the festival, in whose work embody the spirit of the late filmmaker Nora Ephron. I watched Boca Chica at the New York Latino Film Festival, which is happening right now. I'm not going to give any spoilers because the film still doesn't have a home. I hope that a big streaming service picks it up because I think the film was really good. And as a Dominican, I was really proud to see not only my country in the big screen, but in such a beautiful way, because the film was just really well done.
So I hope someone out there, Netflix, HBO, Amazon, I hope they pick it up and put it on streaming service for the world to see, because I feel like it needs to be seen. The film is a directorial debuted for Gabriella a Moses and the hypnosis of the film, which you can find at the Tribeca Film Festival. It reads as follows dominican twelve year old Desi has musical aspirations and performs with a local all girls choir. But her ambitions are much bigger. Desi yearns to one day leave her beachside community of Boca Chica behind and achieve fame and recognition as a singer. She keeps this yearning a secret from her family, especially the woman in her family who have raised her her occasional confidant, her older brother Fran, who lives a Forcade of his own in New York City as a struggling musician who shippishly works as a food delivery worker. When news arrive that the sibling's cousin Elvis is coming to Boca Chica to marry his wealthy older American fiance, it opens up past tensions and trauma in the family. Meanwhile, a restless Desi meets a group of Dominican teens, also aspiring singers and rappers, that lights up a spark in her artistic pursuits.
I felt that the film was very authentic in the way that it portrayed life in the Dominican Republic, especially for those who live in poor circumstances. There are some themes in the film that are explored that some people might find risky and might not like, or might be able to handle when they watch this film. There were parts of the films that made me feel very sad and nervous at the same time, but at the end the lead character has a happy ending, which was good. The film is not on streaming right now, but I'll add their instagram right there so you can follow them and see the next time they'll be at a film festival or whenever they get picked up by a streaming service, you can check out the film overall. I gave the film four stars and I added it to one of my favorite films of the year. And like I said, as a Dominican, I was really proud. They told a really authentic and beautiful story, and I hope that they get picked up by streaming service soon. Anyways, those were my reviews for Boca Chica and Cassandra.
Cassandra you can watch on Amazon Prime, and hopefully soon you'll be able to watch Boca Chica somewhere on streaming. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed the reviews, please consider subscribing and help me get to a thousand subscribers. I post videos every week, so I hope you can come back next week for my next video. I hope you have a great day or night wherever you are in the until next time. Bye.
