el crispito

It is based on a novel by Walt Curtis, a street poet from Oregon. It is an autobiographical tale, wherein Curtis has an unrequited love affair with a young illegal alien from Mexico and experiences all the thrill, frustration, and hassle that comes with that relationship. Curtis is much older than Johnny, who claims to be 18, but might even be 16, a detail that Van Sant changed because he felt people would be disgusted by a gay autumn-spring romance - no, obsession. I disagree with that, but I admit that it is easier for me to assert that now, 23 years after than Van Sant had to consider the matter, in the world after L.I.E.

It is interesting to watch the film in Mexico, because it deals with Mexicans outside of their country, living as aliens among gringos. Watching it as an alien gringo in a Mexican context, it takes on the air of a State Department production featuring the pitfalls of coming illegally to the United States and not choosing one of the acceptable, socially prescribed paths for living and working illegally. It's melodramatic. It's black and white (for the most part). It's done on a low budget, but it has a beautiful style. Viewing it abroad, I was reminded of Soy Cuba. The foreign land seemed exotic, in an earthy, sexy way. There is a celebration of freedom, but the foreigners are excluded from the party, even though, through their history, the two countries go way back. To them, the message is: you'd better watch your step.

That is not Van Sant's intention. He exposes inequities that exist in the United States in the simple telling of the story, and they are not rationalized away by the end of the film. There is no more sinister subtext. He just tends to do stories about social misfits, and life can often be gloomy, the situation can often get quite grave, for misfits.

Furthermore, I do not expect that any Mexicans would actually take that away from the film, although to be honest, I have no idea what that dozen or attending my screening thought of it. They all got up and left at the end without much fanfare. Maybe they were miffed because it was obvious to them that the role of Johnny wasn't actually played by a Mexican, but rather a South American Native. Such slight of hand works easier in the United States where, to a lot of folks, all brown people look alike. Mexico? Guatemala? Ecuador? What's the difference? Maybe they were shocked to see poor and homeless gringos portrayed in the film. That is not something we see down here every day.

Mala Noche will join the Criterion collection shortly.