In Vera Cruz in the 1940s, Nacho, an Indian, waits tables at Don Lázaro’s café at Hotel Ofélia falls for Lola, an opium-addicted, alcoholic whore who’s hopelessly in love with Gardenia Wilson, a masked wrestler who slept with her once but knows she’s unbalanced. Don Lázaro warns Nacho about Lola, and Nacho knows his love will be unrequited, but he’ll do anything, regardless of how degrading, to be near her. Lola, for her part, can be sadistic. Republican exiles who are regulars at the café encourage Lola’s desire to assassinate Franco. Nacho in turn mixes this political mirage with his fascination with the plot of The Mikado. Where do fantasies and obsessions lead? —IMDb
Arturo Ripstein y Rosen (born December 13, 1943 in Mexico City) is a Mexican film director who got his break into movies working as an uncredited assistant director for Luis Buñuel. In 1965, he directed his first feature, Tiempo de Morir. Written by Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel García Márquez, in which he began a tradition of making independent films written by high-profile Latin-American authors.
Many of his films are shot in tawdry interiors, with bleak brown color schemes, and seedy pathetic characters who manage to achieve a hint of pathos and dignity.Ademas de haberse estrenado con varios años de retraso y en funciones semi clandestinas, entre otros motivos, esta cinta fue un severo fracaso en México debido a que, ya para este entonces, son pocos los espectadores quienes estan dispuestos a compartir la ominosa y cruda visión del mundo que Arturo Ripstein ha manejado en sus ultimas peliculas (las que marcan, paradojicamente,el periodo más atractivo de su carrera).