Hey there, thanks for stopping in! Yes, the Margot Robbie filmography watch through is still on hiatus, but that doesn’t mean I am. In fact, I hope you’re up for earning some frequent flyer miles because I’m going to bring you along on my journey around the world. In a new bi-weekly segment that I’m going to call Letterboxd Map, we will look at a film from a country on my Letterboxd map that I’ve yet to see one from. First up is El Salvador and… Malacrianza (2014).
Title: Malacrianza
Director: Arturo Menéndez
Released: October 4, 2014 (United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 9 minutes
Available to stream on: Kanopy
Don Cleo (Salvador Solís) spends his days as a piñata salesman in El Salvador. Despite the poverty and the violence, as well as battling his own addiction and carrying the weight of his life choices with him, Don Cleo does his best to keep a positive outlook on life. This becomes a little easier when he receives a sweet pair of sunglasses that earn him compliments.
However, as hard as he tries to just make it through and be a decent person, Don Cleo just can’t catch a break. One day he is the unlucky recipient of a letter left at his doorstep. Why unlucky? Well, the letter is an extortion attempt. The people behind it are demanding $500 within the next 72 hours. If Don Cleo doesn’t pay up, he’s a dead man.
Understandably so, Don Cleo is beside himself. He struggles to make it from day to day financially, how is he ever going to come up with $500?
Leaving no stone unturned, except maybe the ones in his backpack, Don Cleo reaches out to everyone he can think of for help. Unfortunately, he’s only able to come up with half of the money.
While it’s impressive he could scrounge up $250, that isn’t enough to save his life.
Malacrianza (2014), at face value, is a blend of tragedy, drama, and comedy (tradramedy?) that primarily works thanks to Solís and his performance as Don Cleo.
The story is rather straightforward and simple. A hard-working and down on his luck man, who tries to be a good person and does his best to scrape by, is the victim of an extortion plot. For the most part, it is rather paint-by-numbers.
But you know what, this is an instance where the film doesn’t suffer as a result of it. Instead, it genuinely feels like Arturo Menéndez is trying to give us as realistic a look at life in El Salvador as he possibly can.
As for Solís, the way he portrays Don Cleo makes it almost impossible to root against him. A slightly aloof and kindhearted optimist, who when things feel like they’re meandering along, keeps you engaged and invested.
What’s really impressive is that we’re even able to see Malacrianza (2014) at all. It turns out that this is the first feature film to be made in El Salvador since 1969. And if that’s not wild enough for you, it is also the first film ever from El Salvador to achieve worldwide distribution.
That alone should make you want to go and check this out. You won’t be disappointed.
Now it’s your turn. If you’ve also seen Malacrianza (2014), what did you think of it?
Sound off in the comments below or by reaching out to me over on Bluesky!
As always, you can follow me over on Letterboxd to see what else I’ve been watching lately.