Fuera del cielo (2006) User Reviews (4)

The End of Novo Cine Mexicano?

[ixta_coyotl · 4/10 · 27 February 2007]

By a strange twist of fate I happened to watch this film right after Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 dud, Rumble Fish. Fuera del Cielo claims to be an original script, but you could have fooled me as it felt like a 75% copy of that earlier story.

Demian Bichir plays the quiet, brooding part of the Motorcycle Boy, here called Marlboro. Mickey Rourke couldn't do much with that part himself, and Bichir provides no more. Perhaps I'm too used to seeing him as an on-the-edge middle class capitalino, but I never bought into him in this part. As his nemesis, Damian Alcazar gives perhaps his most uninspiring performance. I think Alcazar is one of the best actors alive today, on par with de Niro. His problem here is certainly the lame script and poor camera angles from the primerizo director, which have the effect of making him look distant and small. Rafael Inclan as the uncle is a poor replication of his great uncle Miguel (along with Claude Raines one of the great character actors ever), but here he surprises with one of his better performances; its too bad the script leaves him hanging out to dry. The female roles are the best and most interesting: Dolores Heredia (the lead from Santitos) is excellent, and as her fast-blooming daughter, Martha Higareda (Amar Te Duele) steals and enlivens every scene. Finally, Armando Hernandez as el Kuku provides a perversely interesting feel in his most prominent role yet. This script has him crossed somewhere between Matt Dillan's role in Rumble Fish with Eric Roberts' from The Pope of Greenwich Village.

Fuera del Cielo is most interesting in a few odd off moments (Hernandez breaking things in the background, Inclan reflecting on his life, Higareda encountering her sexuality, or Alfedo Garcia's girlfriend Isel Vega posing as a mother). But for the most part, this film just feels worn out, like retreaded tires.

While Mexican cinema saw new directions in 2006 with documentaries, an animated film, and Guillermo del Toro's Laberinto del Fauna, New Mexican Cinema laid two stillborn eggs in the form of this film and Un Mundo Maravilloso. Whether the movement is completely dead or not will probably hinge on Sultanes del Sur, Alejandro Lozano's follow up to Matando Cabos with Tony Dalton and the Catalan Jordi Molla. Stay tuned.

Simply BAD

[sgbreton77 · 3/10 · 30 January 2007]

Why I think this is a bad movie?

a) A bad script, you never really understand what the real purposes of the characters are. The lead, Demian Bichir (Marlboro) spends the whole movie with this silent attitude, barely speaking, just watching and not allowing the audience know what's going through his mind.

b) illogic situations, illogic reactions, you never really get to know why things happen the way they happen. SPOILER: You get to believe that Marlboro wants to reform his spoiled brother, by correcting him every time he gets into a fight, but it's OK when they both rob a car and kidnap the owner. What was the purpose of that ride in the night in a stolen jaguar with your lover's daughter and your brother's stripper girlfriend? It felt as just to fill in the running time of the film, it got boring, the story could have been resolved a lot sooner.

c) The dialog is sometimes sooo cliché and so predictable.

d) Loose ends. The story of the daughter with cancer, the story of the uncle, the story of the kidnapped senator, all left in-concluded.

f) The end is terrible, so cliché again and so non-sense. SPOILER: The lead throws himself off a bridge to a certain death in front of his nemesis, a corrupt cop. Why the hell did he commit suicide in the first place?? And even worse: what does the cop do? Shoot him 6 times while he is falling. What the hell was that for??? But...yeah, it was really dramatic and REALLY stupid.

e) An overall feeling that everything that happens you've seen it before.

The only plus of this movie is Armando Hernandez acting, but not much use with such a bad script.

A typical Mexican movie.

[ja-08 · 4/10 · 22 January 2007]

When i first watched the trailer i thought: "well, it might be worth watching it" due to Martha Higareda and Demián Bichir's acting. But i totally regret spending more than an hour watching an ordinary film. I'd really like and be glad to watch a Mexican movie with other topics, because you can always see the same in them: sex, poverty, (street)fights and drugs. Actually, there's no variety at all in Mexican movies. I'm not saying it doesn't have good ones, because it surely does. But all them talk about the same over and over again. One of the things i most dislike of this movie, is the ending, god, it could have been much better. I guess i'll start praying for Mexican movies with different themes to come out.

Title in English is BEYOND THE SKY ---It is another good drama from Mexico

[jaybob · 8/10 · 2 July 2009]

It seem that our friends below the border like to make drams such as this. I am not familiar with any of the actors nor do I remember them appearing in other films, I am quite sure they are stars, especially our 2 leads. They are 2 brothers,the older one in his 30's, the younger 22, His character acts like he is closer to 17.

They are as different as day & night, but they do care for each other. They & the other characters are somewhat disreputable,BUT I did follow the film till its ending.

This is a gritty film that you must pay close attention to, We do not know all we would like to know about these people, as there are a few things left unsaid.

The film to me a 'slice of life' portrait, of persons & or situations we may not care for.

I, for one enjoy this type movie,it makes me minds eye, create endings I would like.

If you see this let me know your feelings. It is definitely worth seeing.

Ratings: *** (out of 4) 87 points(out of 100) IMDb 8 (out of 10)