The same day when the U.S. Theatres released the uplifting real life drama “The Long Game”, directed by Julio Quintana, Netflix offered its subscribers an hypnotic Mexican thriller titled “Disappear Completely” (“Desaparecer por Completo”), directed by Luis Javier Henaine.
With an atmosphere that reminds us contemporary crime mystery classics such as David Fincher’s “Seven” (1995), “Disappear Completely” follows Santiago (Harold Torres), a criminal photojournalist who gradually starts loosing his five human senses after visiting a crime scene with apparent witchery work involved. Torres is one of the best contemporary actors working between Mexico (where he starred in the hit comedy series “Run Coyote Run”) and the US, where he has starred alongside Liam Neeson in the thriller “Memory” (Martin Campbell, 2022) and more recently the action flick “Silent Night” (John Woo, 2023) starring Joel Kinnaman, but films like “Dissappear Completely”, where he carries all the weight of the story, are the ones who gives justice to his protagonist stature.
In Memoriam.
Legendary Mexican actress Lorena Velazquez.
Speaking of give justice to main figures of Mexican films, a day before the worldwide streaming release of “Disappear Completely” on Netflix, the legendary Mexican actress Lorena Velazquez, known as “The Queen of the Vampires” for the films she starred in Mexican Golden Age of luchadores films alongside Santo, “The Silver Wrestler”, passed away in Mexico City at the age of 86 on April 11th.
Documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo.
Sadly, at the time we were writing this collaboration we got the news of the passing of another legendary leading Mexican lady of cinema, on her case behind cameras as a documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo, on April 20th, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 80. Lourdes Portillo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary of 1985 for “Las madres de la Plaza de Mayo”, which followed the struggle of the mothers who challenged authorities during the repressive regime in Argentina (1976-1983) and more recently won the Ariel (Mexican Academy Award) for her 2003 feature documentary “Señorita Extraviada”, dealing with the disappearance of young women in the Mexican border with the US. Rest in peace.
Alfredo Galindo is un Productor, Director y Guinista de cine. Columnista del periódico Vanguardia desde 1995, escribe sobre música, cine y televisión. Combina la pasión de escribir con la creación cinematográfica.