Asphalt Goddess

An underrated film that presents life from the delicate and difficult perspectives of a group of women determined to take a stand. I appreciated the real and brutal way in which the difficulties in the characters' lives were represented. An intense, palpable film, capable of taking you out of your world and presenting you with a completely different one. It's a film that opens your eyes to the family and social problems existing on the fringes of society, but also in its center. I recommend it to any person who takes their good, stable and opportunity-filled life for granted. All in all, a good, intense film that is worth watching.

I guess there's a market for everything, but I'd strongly discourage anyone from investing time in this film, unless it is to teach a class on "how to ruin a good idea." The plot was not groundbreaking, but the context was pretty interesting - Mexico's slums in the 80's - 90's. Moreover, about women, told by women, that is not about falling in love or getting pregnant. Overall, what could be a breath of fresh air, is thrown to waste by a bad casting, a terrible script and even worse directing. The actresses have potential. Ximena Romo is not bad, she's done decent things and I think this is the first time I see her on a leading role. She was terrible. Her acting is through the floor. Mabel Cadena carries the movie on her shoulders but that's not enough to make something good out of it. The script was awful. They rely super heavily on local slang which seems forced and misplaced, moreover when there's intermittent code switching among friends which makes it all feel fake and out of place. The camera work is one of the worst I've seen. I assume they try to make up for what they fear will be a boring story and make use of weird lenses, and the camera spinning around, with odd angles that do not build to the story forgetting you into the scenery, just all over the place and gives you nothing. I have no idea what went over the director's head throughout the filming and the cutting of the movie. There are obvious blunders and anachronisms that make me wonder how much time and budget they had to make the film, or if they are trying to prove a point, or get back at some of the producers? Who knows. You're better off not watching this one.

The movie is beautiful because it does a great job at depicting the struggles of teenage women in Mexico city and the poverty, drug abuse, and sexual abuse that take place in there, another remarkable thing is the various bands of teenage women who group together in order to protect each other I thought this movie was beautifully well done and song choices were very precisely well chosen with various of underrated yet appropriately chosen artists that match the plot and time-line of the movie. Next, I like how they focus on local slang it really makes the movie more vibrant and adds color to it, the actresses did such an amazing job in this movie and the 2 lead actresses Ximena Romo and Mabel Cadena nailed this movie and their roles as the group leaders.

The master of makeup and costume design Alejandro Caraza gets all, right on the spot, his job is amazing. Also the story could've been perfect. But it looks like this was the first movie of the Director Julian Hernández, terrible direction: Wrong choice of lenses and framing, camera movements seems like an amateur was shooting all the way. The script is terrible, no pace, no rhythm, nothing. What a waste of money and resources. Save your time and move on to the next one.