Bleak Street

Alleys in the slums of Mexico City provide the backdrop to this film featuring prostitutes, masked wrestling midgets, cross-dressing husbands, theft and murder. A true story from Bleak Street, told in eerie black and white by Mexican maestro Arturo Ripstein.

"Echoing his early mentor Luis Buñuel, Ripstein bestows compassion upon all his characters equally while eschewing sentimentality. But this in no way curbs his penchant for black comedy, which unfurls in details such as the wrestlers' refusal to remove their masks under any circumstances. With its spellbinding long-take, black-and-white imagery, and naturalistic performances, Bleak Street guides us through a gloomy labyrinth of desperation and desire — and winds up being one of the finest works of Ripstein's career." (Toronto International Film Festival)

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