A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Red Box the other day. Not necessarily on my way there, but when I got to the shiny red giving box, the movie I wanted wasn’t there. I began skimming the screen and came across a Spanish movie, The Night Buffalo, with Diego Luna as leading star. First thoughts, F&#* yeah! I was already calling my sister to tell her the good news and for her to come over and watch. She never came over, but on the same Red Box visit, I also rented Last Chance Harvey. The new Dustin Hoffman movie, Last Chance Harvey (should have been titled, Last Chance Stinker) which played like an elderly Before Sunrise, but the movie had it’s laughs and brief moments. Back to the Night Buffalo; by looking at the movie poster , you can see where I was mislead. A movie written by Guillermo Arriaga (writer of 21 Grams, Babel, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Amores Perros) and hot women. You can see why I would think that this movie was going to be good based on that information and track record of suberb movies. Upon the opening credits, the movie had this Mars Volta-esque riff (at this point I was rolling my eyes and thinking, who are they trying to rip off?) and the opening credits continued to roll. Finally, the movie read, Original Music by – Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. I felt like a horse’s patoot. The opening sequence also had Diego Luna’s character in his bedroom with a Mars Volta poster on the wall. Very appropriate. As for the movie itself, it was a stinker. It never really got past the gratuitous nudity and cock shots of Diego Luna. The movie never unfolded and just went in circles. I was extremely disappointed and misled. I now understood that there was a reason why I hadn’t heard of this film. Damn you, Red Box!
The Mars Volta-Aberinkula [mp3]
El Búfalo de la Noche/The Night Buffalo Trailer