Over the years it seems like I've seen a lot of Luis Bunuel films, but I think it's been over so many years and in so many different circumstances - essentially, I've watched them haphazardly - that I don't have a true sense of him as a filmmaker. I'm going to do my best to address that. This morning I watched his 1953 film El, which is currently playing on the Criterion Channel. El was filmed during Bunuel's years of exile in Mexico. If you think you have an unhappy marriage, you should watch El and focus in on the marriage of Francisco (Arturo de Cordova) and Gloria (Delia Garces), because you'll feel a lot better about your situation. Both de Cordova and Garces are very good in roles that could have slipped into simple melodrama in the hands of weaker actors and a less talented director. By this point Bunuel had moved beyond his surrealist roots, although several of the scenes hint at his earlier films. Francisco is jealous bordering on pure paranoia, and Bunuel does a great job including critique of a society, including the church and Gloria's own mother who are naturally going to believe the man's side of the story. Highly recommended. Expected to see many more Bunuel films discussed in the near future.
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