Ripstein

This book gathers eleven scholarly contributions dedicated to the work of Mexican director Arturo Ripstein. The collection, the first of its kind, constitutes a sustained critical engagement with the twenty-nine films made by this highly acclaimed yet under-studied filmmaker.

In this black comedy, master Mexican director Arturo Ripstein (The Holy Office, Deep Crimson) presents another of his trademark looks at the twin forces of absurdity and pathos. Based on a novel by Pedro Antonio Valdez, the film weaves five episodic tales centered around a decrepit Mexican brothel run by a Chinese immigrant, Chang (Samuel Gallegos), and protested nightly by a Christian group who hopes to shut it down. Among the cast of characters who populate this modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah are Chang's long-suffering wife, an eccentric stable of hookers, and an especially seedy roster of customers (including corrupt politicians and deranged priests), resulting in a carnivalesque tapestry of the human condition.

For killing in a duel, Juan Sayago (Jorge Martínez de Hoyos) is sent to jail, and after serving 18 years of conviction , returns to his hometown, with the intention of living a normal life along Mariana Sampedro (Marga López) but the sons of the man he murdered are bent on revenge.