Chinango (2009) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
The first latin american martial arts movie
After finding his grandfather's Shaolin medallion, Braulio gets mixed up with Mexican gangsters whom end his peace, he'll handle this mess the old fashioned way - Yet his greatest rival is also the hottest Kung Fu babe in all of China.
Cast
Popular reviews
What internet buzz existed about this d2v martial-arts flick has centered on how cheaply it was made and how grotty it looks as a result. For 8000 dollars or whatever it cost, they didn't do such a bad job -- those people kvetching must never have seen any C21 made-over-the-weekend narco movies. There's a dedication in the closing credits to cinematographer Alex Phillips, sign that somebody in the central crew takes filmmaking seriously. And the Foley work was stellar.
Der EL MARIACHI unter den Martial Arts-Filmen.
Man muss natürlich Respekt dafür hegen, dass man ohne Geld ein Filmprojekt auf die Beine stellt.
Marko Zaror konnte sich damit auch weiterhin der Welt präsentieren und hat mittlerweile mehrere Hauptrollen in krachenden B-Kloppern belebt. Auch im A-Fach ist er mittlerweile tätig, zum Beispiel als Stuntvorlage für den jungen Will Smith in Gemini Man.
Was hier abgeliefert wird ist trotzdem leider Laientheater der langweiligen Sorte.
Schnitt, Schauspiel und jedes andere Handwerk wirkt ungekonnt.
Man merkt die Lust an der Materie, trotzdem überträgt sich das einfach nicht.
Eine deutsche Auswertung gab es nie. Im englischen und im französischen Bereich gibt es eine DVD.
Erstere lief bei mir im Player und bietet nur die spanische Tonspur mit englischen Untertiteln. Dazu krisseliges 4:3 Bild, welches auf 16mm gedreht wurde.
Wohl nur für Komplettisten, die wissen wollen wo so manche Actiondarsteller ihren filmischen Ursprung haben.
3,5 von 10
Lets get this out of the way: this is not a good looking film. Apparently shot guerrilla-style around Mexico City by a first time crew on 16mm in the early 2000s (Zaror looks so young here). The story, something about our hero finding a medallion that a local gangster wants for some reason, is confusing with nonsensical tangents and red herrings. Most problematic as a martial arts vehicle for its star, the fight scenes were not great: the choreography was not particularly ambitious, the shots were frequently too close to see anything, and the editing was confusing. This could be expected from a rookie crew, but it doesn't make for pleasant viewing.
But of course the only reason to watch…
The weirdest thing, really, is how two people could walk into a video store and completely independently get excited by the same completely horrendous looking Mexican kung fu movie despite the fact the jacket art looks like Jackie Chan’s The Medallion. And yes, it was fairly horrendous, but in a vaguely charming low budget Shaw Brothers 70s flick starring a bunch of latino soap stars kinda manner. Actually, it’s not really as intriguing as that sounds, so don’t rent it on that account. Marko has, thankfully, gone onto better things.