Film Review: Museo (2018)
Gael García Bernal in Museo (2018) (c) Youtube Originals
Dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios
Ruizpalacios, once again, uses a historical moment in Mexico’s history as a frame for his inventive storytelling. His first film “Güeros” took place during the student strike in Mexico City. In 1968 and focused on a group of aimless slackers living in the moment with no thought to their future. This film takes place in 1985 at the time of an audacious theft of 140 artifacts from one of Mexico City’s jewels, the National Museum of Anthropology, which shocked and outraged the country at the loss of important relics of their heritage.
Ruizpalacios, creates his own version of events and the perpetrators. The mastermind, Juan (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his sidekick Wilson (Leonardo Ortizgris), a pair of 30-something slackers who have just finished veterinary school, but have no jobs and still live at home. Wilson lives with his terminally ill father who he cares for. Juan, lives with a large boisterous family which includes a loving, concerned mother and a stern disapproving father. Juan and Wilson have both worked part-time at the museum in low-paying gigs. Juan worked with the photography department which documents the individual objects. The idea of the theft comes to him out of pot-fueled boredom, restlessness and a general dissatisfaction with his life. He has too much charm and charisma for his own good and convinces a reluctant Wilson to go along with it.
Museo (2018) (c) Youtube Originals
It strains credulity to imagine these two feckless dudes pulling off such a tricky job, but they have finally put some energy into something which appears to have been carefully and intricately planned. On Christmas eve, Juan’s final acts prior to this dramatic move include, hilariously disabusing the younger kids in his family of the notion of Santa Claus by showing them where their presents are hidden. He then cajoles his furious father into lending him the family car as the getaway vehicle. Miraculously, they pull it off, after which It becomes obvious that the post-heist planning was more of the seat-of-the pants typical of these two.
The film now begins to feel like a wacko buddy roadtrip as they head to Chiapas with a vague idea to visit one of their friends who works at one of the heritage sites to get some contacts to fence the goods. They failed to consider that the robbery would not be national news and that the objects would be almost impossible to sell, or that they might be arrested. These two are so unlikely as master criminals that they carry the loot in a backpack which Juan manages to lose on several occasions, including a drunken, druggy sexual night with a stripper on the beach. There is a re-direct to Acapulco to meet with a drug lord as a possibility. As the misbegotten caper continues to fail, Juan becomes more and more reckless and desperate. Wilson finally cracks and bails on him when his father dies.
Gael García Bernal in Museo (2018) (c) Youtube Originals
We really feel empathy for these ridiculously clueless wannabe criminals. Juan has some twisted social conscience which exonerates him in his own mind. He reckons that the objects were stolen or looted from their sites and therefore not legally in the museum. The reasoning goes no further than that until he realizes that if they are sold to a collector, no one will be able to see them. Furthermore, he now grasps that they are both priceless and worthless to him. Ruizpalacio has his own denoument. His version is crazier and more dramatic. It is funny, fast- paced and beautifully filmed, with spectacular locations, clever dialog, much of it coming in voice over by Wilson. Gael Garcia Bernal is such an endlessly engaging and mercurial presence that one can hardly fail to enjoy watching anything in which he participates. He is also one of the producers on this one.
(Available on Youtube)
