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More than just a documentary dispatch from the illegal immigration
frontlines, Mark Becker's Romántico evolves from a verite view of
undocumented alien subculture to a deeply personal, "beautifully realized"
(NY Post), subtly-hued, and bittersweet dramatic story of family,
fatherhood, identity and survival.
By day, mariachi musician Carmelo Muñiz washes cars, but at night, he
and his friend Arturo perform norteño and ranchero music for gringo tips in
the taquerias and bars of San Francisco's Mission District. Carmelo's meager
itinerant living belies the deep roots and binding ties he has to his native
Mexico. His wife, two young daughters, and gravely ill mother rely on the
money Carmelo sends to them in the little town of Salvatierra. When Carmelo
returns to the life and loved ones he left behind a thousand miles south of
the border, he resumes the wearying struggle against medieval poverty that
he sought to escape in "el Norte." As Carmelo doggedly copes with his
mother's mortality, his daughters' needs, and his own dreams, Romacute;ntico
becomes an unforgettable and "immensely moving" (NY Daily News) portrait of
the love, pride, and grace connecting one life with two countries.
By shooting on film instead of DV tape and trading overt political
editorializing for enchantingly intimate and ingenious storytelling that is
"visual poetry on the run" (Newsday), Becker has created a film that is as
urgent as today's headlines and as timelessly lyrical and beautiful as the
music, land, and faith that are Carmelo's joy and salvation.
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"**** ACHIEVES WHAT MOST DOCS ASPIRE TO, BUT FEW CAN: A FEELING OF TRUTH." - Hank Steamer, TIME OUT NY
"MAY BE THE BEST DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR..." - Ed Gonzalez, SLANT |
Carmelo Muñiz in Mark Becker's Romantico. Courtesey of Kino International. 
