Rudo & Cursi [15]

Rudo and Cursi is the tale of two Mexican brothers – Beto (aka Rudo), who has dreams of becoming a professional footballer, and Tato (aka Cursi), his younger brother who wants to pursue stardom as a singer.

Filmed in Spanish with English subtitles, the film is simple yet enthralling with its simple tale of sibling rivalry and what can happen when dreams come true. With the humorous voiceover (by the guys' dodgy agent) beginning ‘Some wanker once told me the beautiful game was started with the head of a soldier’ (good fun for the striker but not so great for the goalie apparently), the fast-flowing dialogue begins, and – as always with a good foreign film – looking back on it I can only remember the performances, not the subtitles. In places the subtitles appeared against a light screen making them difficult to decipher, but this was not significant enough to disrupt the story.

We are introduced to the brothers when they work at a banana plantation and their respective dreams are pie in the sky, until a chance visit by a football agent to their local team gives first Tato and later Beto the chance of riches and stardom.

[THIS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS! - Ed]
Tato gets his chance as a striker and subsequently realizes his dream as a singer (although not a very good one), but loses form when he loses his model girlfriend. Beto is on the verge of breaking the goalkeeping clean-sheet record when the stresses of his new-found fame, which have culminated in him turning to gambling and drugs, threaten to destroy his longed for career. The brothers’ footballing dreams significantly both begin and end with a life-changing penalty shootout.

Secondary storylines (involving Beto’s wife becoming a career woman in his absence and their sister marrying the local drug lord as well as the brothers’ dreams of building their mum a house) worked well in supporting the family theme of the film.

Don’t be put off by the fact this is subtitled – this is a very enjoyable film with lively and convincing performances by the main actors, from the same team who brought us Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Marie The Minx (DI Reviewer), 26/06/09

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