Simon (El Gran Varon)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: C+
Simon (El Gran Varon) (2002) is an interesting
comic satire of masculinity, but the film runs into problems when it gets
serious and cannot break out of the satiric approach it is built on. Arturo Velazco’s film immediately references
The Western, but it is then immediately apparent that the location is not the
American West, but Mexico. With a more explicit
and traditional idea of masculinity in tact in its cinema and traditions than
its more diverse northern neighbor, the idea of staring a film about a gay son
this way is potentially intriguing.
Alberto Estrella is Don Andreas, with much money, power
and social position; his bravado is part of the projection of that
success. He has a daughter, but really
wants a son. When that son is upon him,
the nurse gives him a choice of the life of his wife or new son. He chooses the son, something the wife never
finds out, as both live. Then, the son
grows older and keeps showing an affinity for feminine things. His father beats him at one point (in almost
a take-off of a similar scene of Christina using Joan Crawford’s make-up in
1981’s now camp classic Mommie Dearest), which should be a serious
turning point in the film before Simon is eventually thrown out, but the
demented look and feel of the film (even with two cinematographers) oddly
remains. As an adult, Simon (Girban
Gonzalez) becomes a cross-dressing performer; though a later odd twist is that
his father somehow lands up at the same club (for reasons actually unexplained)
and they meet years later.
Although this is potentially interesting and maybe I am
missing something because I do not know as much about Mexico as I could or
should, there are things here that just do not add up and it is ambiguous as to
whether to take the dramatic moments as send-ups of melodrama or something new
that only the filmmakers know what it is.
Either way, Simon disappoints, even though I did not have much
expectations for it to begin with.
The letterboxed 1.66 X 1 image was shot on Kodak film, but
despite two cinematographers, it has a consistent look. Lighting is never overwhelming and even in
outdoor shots, there seems to be something anti-natural about the look beyond
any problems the image and lack of detail this DVD offers has. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is limited and
offers no surrounds whatsoever.
Subtitles have to be accessed via your player, so they are not the
burned-in kind. There are no extras,
but I would have liked to hear what the filmmakers thought they were
doing. Better luck next time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
