To celebrate our Mexico Noir series, curated by best-selling Mexican Gothic novelist Silvia Moreno Garcia, we invited Midnight Boogaloo to take the stage and get the party going. After the music, enjoy the seminal dancehall melodrama Salón México, a key film from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
Midnight Boogaloo is a collective of musicians coming from all around the Milky Way. This project was founded by Alan Ruiz with the intention of bringing latin “descargas” back to the streets. Influenced by the New York sound of the 60s and 70s, this project emerges from the rich and diverse Vancouver music scene. The band is a high energy act that will move you physically and emotionally. The repertoire is a mix of original and traditional music from Latin America including styles like Cumbia, Salsa and Boogaloo, with a Rock & Roll aesthetic.
Alan Ruiz on Guitar, Daniel Ruiz on drums, Linaldo Sans on Bass and Robin Layne on congas
About the film: Salón México (Emilio Fernandez, 1949, 95 min)
Salón México is one of the landmark films of period, and one of the most fascinating. Dance halls and bordellos sprang up across Mexico in the 1940s as the country became more affluent and attracted more foreign visitors. Mercedes (Marga López) is a prostitute who works at the titular bar. She uses her earnings to send her younger sister to a private school in the hope she will have a brighter future.
Cheated by her pimp (Rodolfo Acosta) she recklessly steals his wallet and is only saved from a severe beating by the intervention of a kindly policeman, Lupe (Miguel Inclán, cast against type in a rare sympathetic role). The film’s melodramatic plot mixes hard-hitting social realism with romanticism and swells of patriotic fervour, along with multiple red hot dance sequences.
Its success helped spark a wave of películas de cabareteras (dancehall pictures) with similar elements, Victims of Sin among them.
We appreciate the support of Fundación Televisa // DCP Courtesy of Cineteca Nacional México
In an addition to dishing out stabbings, shootouts and seasonal fiestas, Fernández synthesizes a host of cultural references. Frenzied Afro-Cuban dancing mixes with statelier Mexican danzón; one set piece is illuminated by a flashing neon sign, and another puts Mercedes and her sister in a museum, surrounded by pre-Columbian artifacts. The owner of the cabaret tells patrons that the composer Aaron Copland got the inspiration for his “Salón México” suite while sitting at their very table.
J Hoberman, New York Times
A brilliant early example of the cabaretera (cabaret) genre… Energetic and low-down, this is essentially a film noir version of Stella Dallas, with the added delight of musical numbers that take place in the nightclub of the title. The dancing is explosively sexy, full of gyrating pelvises that would have given the Hollywood censors a stroke.
Farran Smith Nehme, Village Voice
Co-Presented with
Community Partner
Midnight Boogaloo
Mar 29
7:00 pm
VIFF Centre, VIFF Cinema
Book Tickets
Sunday March 29
Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits
Producer
Salvador Elizondo
Screenwriter
Emilio Fernandez, Mauricio Magdaleno
Cinematography
Gabriel Figueroa
Editor
Gloria Shoemann
Original Music
Antonio Diaz Conde
Production Design
Jésus Bracho
Also in This Series: Mexico Noir
Curated by best-selling novelist Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic), Mexico Noir is an invitation to discover a new shadow world.
The Night Falls
An arrogant, womanizing sports star eventually gets his comeuppance in this jet-black crime drama from director Roberto Gavaldón.
In the Palm of Your Hand
Charming, (over-)confident clairvoyant Professor Karin hits the jackpot when he hears about a beautiful widow whose millionaire husband has just died. But you don't need to be psychic to see that blackmailing a killer may not be his best idea...
Another Dawn
In this overtly political thriller, a union organizer hides out from corrupt government goons with an old college flame — but the net is closing in...
The Kneeling Goddess
In which wealthy industrialist Arturo de Cordova purchases the titular nude sculpture of his lover (María Félix) as an anniversary gift for his innocent, adoring wife. Soon enough the wife is dead, though untangling just how and why is part of the fun.
The Skeleton of Mrs Morales
In this delightful black comedy, an avuncular taxidermist (our old amigo Arturo de Córdova) is beloved by many but not his wife (Amparo Rivelles), a religious fanatic who can't bear to be touched. One day she pushes him too far...
Streetwalker
Middle class and married, Elena (Miroslava Stern) has been seduced by an unscrupulous swindler, who turns out to be the pimp of Maria (Elda Peralta), a prostitute and Elena's estranged sister. But are they really so different under the skin?
Victims of Sin
This movie is a hot scramble of piety and passion, sentimentality and sleaze. Ninón Sevilla plays Violeta, a rumba sensation who oversteps when she rescues a newborn from the trash. This gets her fired and wins the enmity of the pimp who fathered the kid.
Salón México + Midnight Boogaloo Live!
To celebrate our Mexico Noir series we invited Midnight Boogaloo to get the party going with a mix of salsa, boogaloo and rock & roll. After their set enjoy the seminal dancehall melodrama Salón México, a classic from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
Gabriel Figueroa & Alex Phillips: Painting It Black
In this free talk, educator and filmmaker Devan Scott (himself a professional cinematographer) will introduce you to the artistry of two giants of Mexican cinematagraphy, Gabriel Figueroa and Canadian Alex Phillips.
Take Me In Your Arms
In this boldly stylized musical melodrama mixing reformist politics with outrageous musical numbers, the incomparable Ninón Sevilla is the poor fisherman's daughter navigating a success of dodgy men on her way to true love.
Sensualidad
Prostitute Aurora (Cuban-born dance queen Ninón Sevilla) gets out of prison and exacts her vengeance by seducing the very married and respectable judge who put her behind bars (Fernando Soler). Eros makes a mockery of rectitude and righteousness.
El Suavecito
Victor Parra is Roberto, "el Suavecito", the smoothie. Sprinkling his Spanish with slang and English, and sporting a Zoot suit, he's a gangster-wannabe, an obnoxious macho who isn't quite as tough as he likes to make out...
Salón México
Cheated by her pimp, Mercedes recklessly steals his wallet and is only saved from a severe beating by the intervention of a kindly policeman. Hard-hitting social realism sits beside patriotic sentimentality and multiple red hot dance sequences.
Crepúsculo
A brain surgeon (Arturo de Córdova) begins to doubt his own sanity when the woman he's in love with (Gloria Marin) marries his brother — and he starts fantasizing about murder.