Feature film
Two Monks
Dos monjes
Juan Bustillo Oro · 1934
Synopsis
In a Gothic monastery, a sick and tormented monk recognises a newly arrived brother and throws himself on him in a fit of madness. Their shared past goes back to the confessional: two friends, one of them a musician, loved the same young woman, Ana, and a revolver shot shattered everything. The story is told twice, from the point of view of each, and the two versions contradict each other.
Context
Produced by Producciones Proa and written by the director with José Manuel Cordero, the film was photographed by Agustín Jiménez in sets by Carlos Toussaint, to music by Max Urban. It was released on 28 November 1934 at the Iris theatre in Mexico City. Its staging borrows from German expressionism, and its double narrative has been compared to Rashomon. The World Cinema Project restored it with the Filmoteca of the national university and the Cinémathèque française.
Who it is for
A film of about an hour and twenty minutes, in two successive stories, with a highly stylised image; restored and subtitled.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as a classic of Mexican experimental cinema and as the country's first Gothic film, shown at MoMA and released by Criterion.
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