Editor’s Observe: The next comprises Cassandro spoilers.
For his efficiency as Saúl Armendáriz in Roger Ross Williams’s Cassandro, Gael García Bernal is getting deservedly rave opinions. The movie facilities on the regional exótico luchador (comparable to tug) who rises to fame by breaking boundaries within the sport for homosexual wrestlers. Bernal completely captures the exuberance of his character and pulls off the tough activity of bringing not solely Armendáriz to life but in addition Armendáriz’s heightened luchador persona, Cassandro. As Collider’s Ross Bonaime notes in his evaluation, Bernal joyously and electrically captures each aspects of his character. Bernal’s efficiency solely works so effectively, although, due to his most vital scene companion, Perla de la Rosa.
Perla de la Rosa performs Yocasta, Saúl’s mom, who’s each his finest buddy and the inspiration for his luchador character in Cassandro. Although the movie is primarily about Saúl’s lucha libre profession, the connection between Saúl and his mom is the center of the movie, due to de la Rosa’s beautiful efficiency.
In Cassandro, the primary interplay between Yocasta and Saúl takes place as the 2 characters watch tv and put together laundry. De la Rosa’s interactions with Bernal on this scene fantastically talk Yocasta’s take care of her son. When Saúl cracks a joke about one of many characters on tv, Yocasta lovingly laughs at his humorousness. De la Rosa performs this second with a large smile and pats the stack of garments in entrance of her. Her beaming smile expresses her character’s joyfulness, and the patting of the garments demonstrates that this pleasure strikes by her complete physique. When Saúl tells her he wants to complete mending the garments earlier than they make their route, Yocasta tells her son that she is happy with his work ethic and that he’ll make a person joyful someday. De la Rosa delivers these strains with such a young tone that her character’s supportive affection for her son radiates off the display.
De la Rosa additionally completely matches her affection for her son with genuine concern. The morning after Saúl’s first match as Cassandro, he finds his mom engaged on the laundry. Yocasta, considerably ignoring Saúl, is upset about his public debut as an exótico, for which she has been receiving telephone calls all morning. De la Rosa expertly expresses her character’s frustration in her dealing with of the scene’s props. Somewhat than the care she gave to the laundry within the earlier scene, de la Rosa dealt with the clothes with aggression, tossing clothes from machine to basket with pressure. Yocasta appears to be like at Saúl and asks what his father (who stopped partaking with them after Saúl got here out of the closet) goes to say about his luchador persona. Saúl leaves the house, upset at her response, to which Yocasta asks if Saúl remembers “what they did to Silvia’s son.” On this interplay, de la Rosa authentically balances a number of layers of her character’s feelings. In her second line, she balances her resentment with real concern for his security, as she delivers it with a vocal pressure that expresses how arduous it’s for Yocasta to consider her son being harmed. By way of de la Rosa’s highly effective efficiency, she captures the real mix of affection and concern that many dad and mom of homosexual youngsters expertise – one which the perfect queer films and television reveals painting.
This mix is fantastically communicated in the course of the first Cassandro battle Yocasta attends. As Saúl makes his entrance as Cassandro, an viewers member simply behind Yocasta calls him a slur. Yocasta responds rapidly by hitting him together with her purse and yelling, “That’s my son!” De la Rosa performs this second with a defensive rage, delivering her line with assertive command. All through the remainder of the battle, the digicam cuts to Yocasta’s reactions. Almost each shot finds de la Rosa together with her fingers over her mouth, demonstrating the character’s nervousness. Then, after Cassandro wins the match, Yocasta beams with satisfaction, which de la Rosa expresses by tear-filled eyes and a sluggish clap that demonstrates her aid. Even in moments with no dialogue, de la Rosa completely captures the character’s maternal love.
Perla de la Rosa provides emotional complexity to her character even past the registers of her character’s maternalism. This primary happens when Saúl and Yocasta ship completed laundry to their clients. Yocasta approaches a pair of housekeepers with the house’s laundry and makes an attempt to get to know the 2 girls who’re receiving the garments. Nevertheless, the youthful housekeeper refuses to interact which causes Yocasta to notice how nasty the older housekeeper has been to her. Right here, de la Rosa demonstrates her character’s defensiveness and assertive instincts. Although she approaches the housekeepers with a smile and pleasant tone, her expression rapidly shifts when she calls out the older lady. Between her sluggish method and the locking of her glare on the older housekeeper, as she confronts her, de la Rosa demonstrates there may be an inside wrath to Yocasta that may make an look when wanted. De la Rosa’s efficiency on this scene establishes Yocasta’s register of deeply felt and shifting feelings.
The layers of Yocasta’s feelings are expanded within the first scene the place she watches her ex-lover from afar. Saúl and Yocasta park their automotive at a baseball diamond, the place her former lover and Saúl’s father, Eduardo (Robert Salas), is. From a distance simply far sufficient that Eduardo won’t discover them, Yocasta appears to be like out the window and notes all of the similarities between him and Saúl. Together with her head resting towards her hand, de la Rosa captures her character’s eager for her former lover. From the tender supply of her strains to her expressive eyes, welling up with tears, de la Rosa articulates her character’s persevering with love for Eduardo. Then, in distinction to the help for her son seen to this point, Yocasta tells Saúl that Eduardo would nonetheless be with them if Saúl had listened to her (suggesting she instructed him to not come out to his father). De la Rosa manages to ship this line with out cruelty or anger, solely the smooth resentment that rises up in her character as she appears to be like on the man she loves.
The second time Saúl and Yocasta watch Eduardo from afar is the beginning of de la Rosa’s most powerfully acted sequence within the movie. First, as Yocasta watches Eduardo whereas crying, de la Rosa once more rests her hand on her hand, longingly wanting into the gap, frequently wiping tears from her face. Saúl tells Yocasta they’re going elsewhere, to which Yocasta initially resists. As they drive by the neighborhood, Yocasta factors out the totally different homes for which she does laundry and gossips about her clients. On this scene, de la Rosa joyfully delivers every of her strains by tears. By solely her vocality, it’s clear that she is utilizing this gossip as a way to interrupt by her forlorn longing. Saúl and Yocasta arrive at a home he intends to purchase for them, and the 2 take a swim within the pool. Yocasta appears to be like into the sky, then to Saúl, caresses his head, and tells him he’s going bald. De la Rosa pulls off this string of feelings effortlessly. First, her expressive eyes as she appears to be like into the sky talk her character’s joyful response to the fantasy of house. Second, de la Rosa’s loving have a look at her son, after which light caressing of his head expresses her character’s deeply felt maternal love. Third, the way in which she delivers her line about his baldness comes throughout so naturally and with out judgment that it really looks like an genuine comment from mom to son.