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« Emmy Analysis: Will "Pose" FINALLY win Outstanding Costumes? | Main | European Film Awards long list, Part 1 »
Saturday
Aug282021

"Dance of the 41" and "Identifying Features" are up for Ariel Awards

DateSaturday, August 28, 2021 at 3:58PM

by Nathaniel R

"Identifying Features" is available to rent on several services

The nominations for the 63rd annual Ariel Awards (Mexico's Oscars essentially) have been announced. Identifying Features, a drama about a mother travelling across Mexico in search of answers about her son who vanished trying to cross the border made the biggest noise with 16 nominations. In happy news ALL of the Best Picture nominated films are readily available online to US audiences. We've seen more of the Ariel contenders than usual thanks to their festival appearances and current availability (links in the nomination list if we've written about them). Identifying Features is up against two films we loved, Dance of the 41 and Los Lobos along with Tragic Jungle and a documentary called The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo... 

[UPDATE THIS POST NOW REFLECTS THE WINNERS OF THESE PRIZES AS WELL]

We don't yet know which film Mexico will submit this year for the Oscars but it's a strange year as the window is short (given the extended window for the last ceremony's submission) so many of these Ariel nominees won't be eligible or are right on the line of "will they be?"* Still there are a lot of strange extended years involved. Some of the films nominated this year at the Ariels have 2018 or 2019 dates on IMDb so they've been waiting a long time for their moment. Crazy right! 

FEATURE 

"Dance of the 41" is a fascinating (and sexy) historical drama about Mexico's first gay scandal. Streaming on Netflix.

  • Dance of the 41 | Dir. David Pablos [streaming on Netflix]
  • The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo | Dir. Carlos Pérez Osorio  [streaming on Netflix]
  • Los lobos (The Wolves) | Dir. Yulene  Olaizola [streaming on HBO]
  • ★ Identifying Features | Dir. Fernanda Valadez [available to rent] 
  • Tragic Jungle  | Dir. Yulene  Olaizola [streaming on Netflix]

Three Deaths, Los Lobos, and Dance of the 41 are definitely out of the Oscar submission running (sigh) having premiered in Mexico (and sometimes in the US) in 2020 before the cut-off date for last year's submission. Things are less clear with Identifying Features and Tragic Jungle. They both had festival showings in 2020 but we're not exactly sure about their proper Mexican releases in terms of timing. [UPDATE: Mexico chose Prayers for the Stolen to submit to Oscar which was not eligible for these Ariel Awards since it premiered after the nominations... so we assume it will be in the running at next year's Ariels]

ACTOR 

 

  • ★  Alfonso Herrera | Dance of the 41
  • Armando Espitia | I Carry You With Me
  • Demián Bichir | Danyka 
  • Fernando Cuautle | New Order
  • Juan Pablo Medina | El club de los idealistas 
  • Lázaro Gabino Rodríguez | Fauna 

This category randomly has six nominees (all the other categories have 5). It's nice to see I Carry You With Me recognized in mutiple acting categories but  it's a pity they didn't recognize that film more broadly since it's also quite an achievement in terms of craft. It really had a confusing choppy roll out in the world which is too bad because it's brilliant. We hope that someday it finds the big appreciate audience it deserves. 

 

ACTRESS

Mabel Cadena, so unsettling (how does she elicit sympathy and hatred simultaneously?) in "Dance of the 41" is rumored to be joining the cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

 

You already know we're fans of Mabel Cadena given our "halfway mark" acting lists back in early July but we have no idea who will win this.

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Cici Lau plays a kindly neighbor in "Los Lobos"

 

The two performances we've seen from this list are both worthy nominees and bring wonderful variations of texture to their often glum movies.

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

 

DIRECTOR

"Tragic Jungle"

 

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

 

 

EDITING

"New Order"

 

  • Cosas que no hacemos | Andrea Rabasa Jofre, Bruno Santamaría Razo
  • ★  Identifying Features | Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero, Susan Korda 
  • New Order | Óscar Figueroa Jara, Michel Franco
  • The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo | Ricardo Poery  
  • La Vocera | Valentina Leduc, Luciana Kaplan
  • Los lobos (The Wolves)  | Yordi Capó, Carlos Espinosa Benítez, Samuel Kishi Leopo

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS 

 

  • Identifying Features | José Ángel Cordero, José Martínez "Josh" 
  • Tragic Jungle  | José Martínez, Brenda Almontes Peña, Pablo Vinos
  • Dance of the 41 | Ricardo Arvizu  
  • ★  New Order | Ricardo Arvizu
  • Yo Fausto | Yoshiro Hernández

VISUAL EFFECTS

 

  • Dance of the 41 | Alma Cebrián, John Castro 
  • Identifying Features | Darío Basile, Curro Muñoz, Lara Gómez del Pulgar, Mario Lucero Recio, Carlos  Claramunt Terol, Jaime Rafael Fuerte, Pablo Lamosa Barros, Ricardo G. Elipe,  Antonio Ramos Ramos
  • Cuidado con lo  que deseas | Ernesto Peñaloza, Marco Rodríguez, Félix Bueno, Ma. Rosa Fusté 
  • New Order | Hughes Namur, Edgardo Mejía
  • Tragic Jungle  | Javier Velázquez Dorantes, Gustavo Bellon Rebolledo, Benoit Mannequin 

Wouldn't it be interesting if Oscar differentiated between special effects (often referred to as practical effects) and visual effects (which are almost all computer-generated now). The nominee lists could theoretically look quite different but maybe they wouldn't because look at the crossover here. It would probably end up like the Sound Editing and Sound Mixing categories where the branch rarely made enough of a distinction to earn two separate categories.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

 

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

 

  • ★  Perdida | Anton Goenechea
  • El Gallinero | Fabián Ibarra Alemañy 
  • A Costume for Nicolas | Miguel Ángel Uriegas Flores 

 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

 

  • The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo | Carlos Pérez Osorio 
  • ★  Identifying Features | Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero
  • Leona | Isaac Cherem, Naian González Norvind
  • Los lobos (The Wolves) | Samuel Kishi Leopo, Sofía Gómez Córdoba, José Luis Briones Macias
  • Tragic Jungle  | Yulene Olaizola, Rubén Imaz Castro

 

ANIMATED FEATURE

Will we see "A Costume for Nicolas" submitted to Animated Feature at the Oscars?

 

  • Escuela de miedo (Monster Zone) | Leopoldo Aguilar 
  • La liga de los 5 | Marvick Eduardo Núñez 
  • ★  A Costume for Nicolás | Eduardo Rivero 

A Costume for Nicolas, about a boy with Downs Syndrome, is the only one of the animated features with a nomination elsewhere (Adapted Screenplay)

 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

"Three Deaths..." is now streaming on Netflix

 

  • Cosas que no hacemos | Bruno Santamaría Razo 
  • La vocera | Luciana Kaplan 
  • ★  The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo | Carlos Pérez Osorio 
  • Volverte a ver | Carolina Corral Paredes 
  • Yermo | Everardo González

Given it's enormous nomination haul across the regular categories you can probably safely predict that Three Deaths will win this one with ease.

MAKEUP

 

  • New Order | Adam Zoller  
  • ★  Dance of the 41 | Alfredo "Tigre" Mora 
  • Tragic Jungle  | Gerardo Muñoz 
  • Identifying Features | Neftalí Zamora, Tania Larizza Guzmán 
  • Rencor tatuado | Vladimir Amok

 

ORIGINAL SCORE

 

 

FIRST FILM

 

  • The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo | Carlos Pérez 
  • Leona | Isaac Cherem 
  • Ok, está bien... | Gabriela Ivette Sandoval 
  • ★   Identifying Features | Fernanda Valadez 
  • To See You Again | Carolina Corral Paredes 

 

IBEROAMERICAN FEATURE

"The Mole Agent"

 

  • 🇧🇷 Babenco - Tell Me When I Die  | Bárbara Paz 
  • ★   🇨🇱 CHILE - The Mole Agent | Maite Alberdi 
  • 🇨🇴 COLOMBIA - Memories of My Father  | Fernando Trueba 
  • 🇬🇹 GUATEMALA - La Llorona | Jayro Bustamante 
  • 🇪🇸 SPAIN - The Good Girls  | Pilar Palomero 

We find it fun and honest that Mexico's Oscars don't have a foreign-film category so much as a "other Spanish language countries" style category. Here we have a list that's 80% Oscar submissions from last season. The odd film out is Spain's The Good Girls since Spain chose Endless Trench to represent them. 

 

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Los Lobos features two great child actors and both were nominated.

 

 

SOUND

COSTUME DESIGN

the lovers risk a late night stroll in "Dance of the 41"

 

 

ANIMATED SHORT -WE HAVE NOT LEARNED WHO WON HERE

  • A la cabeza | Andrea Santiago 
  • El desfile de los ausentes | Marcos Almada Rivero 
  • ★  La casa de la memoria | Sofía Rosales Arreola 
  • Un juguete de madera soñó con barcos de papel | Mauricio Hernández Serrano 
  • Un peluche espacial | Jesús Sebastián Jaime Oviedo

DOCUMENTARY SHORT -HEARD CONFLICTING THINGS ABOUT WHO WON HERE

  • Boca de culebra | Adriana Otero Puerto 
  • ★   Están en algún sitio | Pablo Tamez Sierra 
  • La felicidad en la que vivo | Carlos Morales 
  • No seré la vida de mi recuerdo | Isabela Ripoll 
  • Tu'un Savi | Uriel López España 

LIVE ACTION SHORT 

 

  • Arreglo napolitano | Rodrigo Ruiz Patterson 
  • Asoleadas | Nadia Ayala Tabachnik 
  • ★  Bisho | Pablo Giles 
  • El día comenzó ayer | Julián Hernández 
  • Wheels | Roberto Fiesco 

 

GOLDEN ARIEL
  • ★  Ofelia Medina
  • ★  Fernando Camara

* About eligibility... there are a lot of strange extended years involved. Some of the films nominated this year at the Ariels have 2018 or 2019 dates on IMDb so they've been waiting a long time for their moment. Distribution problems, pandemics, and different country's timetables have wreaked havoc!

 

AuthorNATHANIEL R | Sold Out Show | |
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Reader Comments (5)

A Cop Movie wasn't eligible? It's getting very good reviews.

August 28, 2021 | Registered Commenterratednext

As any other awards the Arieles tend to nominate just a bunch of films in the most possible categories lefting out another titles. Some snubs for me:

Martijn Kuiper, Best Actor for Ricochet
Alberto Estrella, Best Supporting Actor for Conversaciones
Editing, Dos Veces Tú
Cinematography, Fuego Negro (Dark Forces) I know the movie is trash but technically is terrific
Costume Design, Cindy la Regia (same with Fuego Negro)
Make-Up, El Viaje de Keta
Sound, Menendez: El Día del Señor (same with Fuego Negro)
Score, Todo en Juego

Great to watch El Gallinero in Adapted Screenplay but bad for the omission of OK, Está Bien... as Original Screenplay, both funny scripts.

I'm very happy about Juan Pablo Medina, I'm still a little shocked about the recent news about the lost of his leg but I hope this helps him to be still working because actually he is my favorite from the nominees.

The inclussion of Fernando Cuautle and Mónica Del Carmen feels very forced due the negative reactions to the film but specially for the fact that both of them play supporting characters.

I'm also a fan of Mabel Cadena but Naian González Norvind plays a winner performance. The lead actress category was weak this year in my opinion.

Some curious facts:

-This is the third consecutive year that an actor (Lázaro Gabino Rodriguez) receives a double nomination with the exception that this time is in different categories.

-The tendence to have at least one female director nominated in the Direction category is now 5 in a row and like the Oscars, we gonna have for sure the second female director winner too (Fernanda Valadez)

-For the first time in history (correct me if I'm wrong) mother and daughter actresses (Nailea Norvind and Naian González Norvind) are nominated in the same ceremony.

My personal favorite El Viaje de Keta was totally empty handed (as I was suspect) so my heart is totally with Los Lobos but Sin Señas Particulares will be a deserving winner, a devastating film.

I know nobody ask me but from the films suscribed to receive a nomination (and the ones I could watch) my top 10 is:

1. El Viaje de Keta
2. Los Lobos (The Wolves)
3. Selva Trágica (Tragic Jungle)
4. Sin Señas Particulares (Identifying Features)
5. OK, está bien...
6. Todo en Juego (Throw Everything Into Play)
7. Un Disfraz Para Nicolás (A Costume for Nicolás)
8. Nuevo Orden (New Order)
9. Fauna
10. Leona

August 29, 2021 | Registered CommenterCésar Gaytán

@ratednext "A Cop Movie" was released this year, probably are gonne be considered to the next year according with the rules of the AMACC that the film need to be susrcribed and to have a comercial release in México from January 1st to December 31th from a year (even when not always is like that)

I'm wonder if "Ayer Maravilla Fui" (Yesterday Wonder I Was) could it be elegible for the 2022 ceremony, the film is from 2017 but the commercial release was until this year.

August 29, 2021 | Registered CommenterCésar Gaytán

"El Baile de los 41", isn't just a great film... it is a must-see. I hope it really gets the recognition it deserves, it is an important film, overall, and features one of the most perfect endings i've seen in a long time.

August 29, 2021 | Registered CommenterJésus Alonso

Interesting that they didn't nominate NEW ORDER and I CARRY YOU WITH ME for the feature prize given they're probably the two most internationally known titles among the contenders. I love both of those movies, but it's also nice to see a national awards body not just go with what the western world sees (like the Australian awards do).

Definitely need to try and see THE THREE DEATHS. And finally get around to watching IDENTIFYING FEATURES. I've heard so many good things.

August 30, 2021 | Registered CommenterGlenn Dunks
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