Great Director

Alfonso Cuarón

2-5-2009

Few directors can claim to be international successes, but that's just what Alfonso Cuarón is: An international success story. Born and raised in Mexico, Alfonso was a controversial figure in his native land. He was expelled from Film School (a university in Mexico) because he shot his first short film in English. He then worked in television for awhile before managing to get funding from the Mexican government to film his first film, "Sólo con tu pareja." Though loved by fans internationally, the movie would not be shown in Mexico for a few more years. The movie was a well made comedy, but Alfonso would get to show off what he was truly capible of when he came to America and directed "A Little Princess" for Warner Brothers Pictures. "A Little Princess" was part of Warner Bros. plan to reintroduce G-rated family films to the market.

This plan was scrapped when this movie, along with "The Secret Garden" and "Black Beauty," failed to garner much business at the box office. Though these movies underperformed they would eventually go on to become undicovered classics, and "A Little Princess" stood out of all three of them for it's visual wonder as well as it's revolutionary storytelling that hadn't been seen in a family film for years. Because of the small box office though, Alfonso would not make another movie for three years, where he got the chance to make a modern day adaptation of Charles Dickens classic novel "Great Expecations." The movie, starring Gweneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke, was met with mixed reviews for it's story, but high praise for it's imaginative visuals. By now you've probably guessed that Alfonso is a visual mastermind. This is true. Alfonso is known mainly as a visual director.

But far from visuals alone, he is a master storyteller. This was not more apparent then in his movies "Children of Men" and "Y tu mamá también." The first film was a fable about what humanity would do if women were unable to reproduce. The seconde, a road trip movie about two college boys learning about sex and women, is noticable in that any other director would have made it a sex comedy. Instead the movie is a sex drama, telling an intimate story about two boys who thought carelessly about life and love, and then met a woman who opened their hearts to the feelings women are capible of. Both films showed that Alfonso was one of the greats in the making, and would very likely become a star in the future. That said, Alfonso has admitted that his wild imagination can sometimes be too much. He comes up with ideas he wants to use, and producers have to tell him that those ideas won't work in the context of the film. There has yet to be a film where Alfonso can truly run wild with his imagination, but make no mistake: His past films haven't aged one bit and his future looks exciting.

Cream of the Crop
(In alphabetical particular order)

Alfonso’s overlooked gem “Children of Men” is, at it’s surface, a tale of women who can’t reproduce. Underneath it all though is a fable of morality and human nature. Underlying themes of religion, emotions, and other things make this movie more tasty with each following viewing. Plus this movie features the best cinematography in the Alfonso canon..

Though all of the Harry Potter films are good in their own right, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” stands out for a few reasons. First of all, this is the only Potter film to be directed by a man who is known for his visual direction over any high grossing comedy he made. Second, the movie is actually better then the book it is based off of. Taking his smart visuals and storytelling abilities, Alfonso found an outlet that was perfect for the director to show the world what he was capable of. This movie was also the movie that made Alfonso a household name, being that Harry Potter was one of the biggest sensations since Pokemon broke onto the secene.

One of the rare family classics that can be viewed by anyone of all ages, "A Little Princess" is an enchanting film that will have you in tears by the end of the film. Rarely does a film feel so perfect, but this is one of those films. Based on the best selling book of the same name, the movie deviates from the text in more then a few ways, but the heart remains intact. Neither a chick flick, guy flick, family flick, or childrens flick, "A Little Princess" is a great American classic. One that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Though initially banned in his homeland of Mexico, "Sólo con tu pareja" went on to be internationally acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. This comedy has been restored and released by Criterion, and is a gem of a movie that I would dare not spoil any of the secrets. Needless to say, it's worth checking out.

Turd In The Potpourri

Adapting stories by Charles Dickens just seems to easy to do. So when Alfonso adapted one of his books, he made it more modern with lots of fantasy elements in it. The final product is certainly interesting, but shockingly it’s not very compelling. The characters are emotionless stereotypes and the story actually becomes a confusing mess. I don’t know what happened, but while I appreciate that it feels like some real effort went into the production, it’s just not worth checking out in the long run.