Reviews

Maria Novaro has made a mini-specialty of what might be called the "women's road movie." (She has described her later "Without a Trace" as "Thelma and Louise" with a happy ending.) Danzon gives us Julia, a 40-ish telephone operator and single mother of a sulky teenager, who leaves her Mexico City routine when her dance partner--about whom she knows little more than his name--seems to disappear. The movie opens up into lush panoramas when Julia reaches Veracruz, a metaphor for her own blossoming self-discovery. The soundtrack alone--old-fashioned "danzons" (Mexican dance music imported from Cuba)--is worth the rental price.

Ana, a smuggler of counterfeit pre-Colombian artifacts, hitches a ride with Aurelia, a single mother fleeing a dead-end maquiladora job in Ciudad Juarez (and her drug-dealing boyfriend). The two women head for the Yucatan, Aurelia's infant son stowed in the back of her truck, and are pursued all the way by...whom? Both women have plenty of reasons to worry. In a Q&A session at the San Francisco Film Festival, where "Without a Trace" was shown, director Maria Novaro acknowledged her film's resemblance to "Thelma and Louise," but added that she wanted to make a movie "in which the women don't get punished." Besides being a humorous and revealing portrait of the two women and their reluctant friendship, the film subtly weaves in commentary about U.S.-Mexico border politics and the status of indigenous Mexicans. The soundtrack is outstanding: a combination of norteno "narco-corridas," with their sly commentary on drug smuggling; and playful yet haunting ballads of Veracruz and Yucatan, full of allusions to tropical fruits and animals. The two actresses give memorably rounded performances, with support from some excellent character actors and local Maya nonprofessionals. Another witty, energetic film from the director of "Danzon."