Mancora is the primary reason I bough this disc. It is one of those movies you watch by yourself or with a couple friends but should be embarrassed to watch with your family--it's a little heavy on the sex and drugs.More importantly, it's one of those movies about an immature youth, who doesn't really come off as immature because he is a well-experienced cynic, coming into his own by the conclusion. It's an unusual formula for a bildungsroman in that it won't always interest those who expect all fictional young adults to either be young (and stupid, as in the title character of Thor) or an adult (and mature, like Hermione in the Harry Potter series). In this case, "coming into your own" means renouncing a worldly, cynical, crass view of the way society goes on with itself, and embracing an optimistic, more hopeful lifestyle. It contrasts with typical narratives of maturity in that, conventionally, naivete means innocence, and experience means learning the harsh reality of life; in Mancora, naivete means disillusionment and pessimism, and experience means learning to love--and pursuse--life in spite of it. In this way, it teaches a much more hopeful message to the angsty teenage crowd, who tend to get caught up in an egoistic kind of mistrust of everyone and everything, in that it acknowledges full well the reasons for that mistrust and teaches the value of nevertheless possessing an informed optimism.
Despite the sex and drugs, this makes Mancora a vastly more moral movie than any Disney-like portrayal of good and evil, because in real life you can't tell good from evil; you can only learn and decide how to live the most positive life possible, in the face of endless adversity. Beyond that, Mancora portrays a very sensous, culturally-aware, mixed-emotions presentation that I personally find intoxicating.
Maldeamores is a great match for the teenage angsty drama not just because it is also a Spanish-language film starting with the letter "M," but because it has a similar quality of sensuality and shifting emotions. Its roller-coaster of laughs, cries, and frights is constructed through a series of love-story vignettes, a la "Paris, Je T'Aime" or "Love, Actually." Like Mancora, Maldeamores tries to teach the value of loving life in spite of how unsatisfying life can be. (Some of the stories also moralize quite transparently on the dangers of not learning this lesson, and forging ahead blindly and stubbornly, as well as the dangers of just being an outright idiot. Those were some of the best laughs, of course!)
I view this combo as a great drama accompanied by a great comedy--and not the other way around--mostly because I am one of those serious tightwads who would rather be fascinated than entertained. Either way you take this pairing, I have to say that I love both films and make as many of my friends watch them as possible.
Ps. To evaluate the blu-ray itself, it's got no special features and not at all an exciting menu, but when you contrast that with the value of two movies placed on one disc, well, you begin to demand less in added perquisites. Buy this movie!
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