4 Star Theater
2200 Clement Street San Francisco
February 12, 2025
A supernatural drama directed by Roberto Gavaldon ("the greatest director of The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema"), starring Ignacio Lopez Tarso and Pina Pellicer with cinematography by Gabriel Figuroa (Academy Award nominated "Night of The Iguana" 1964). Visually stunning and calling to mind classics such as Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (where Death is also a character!) and Figuroa's mentor Gregg Toland ("Grapes of Wrath," "Citizen Kane") it was the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. A fable of a starving woodcutter and his impoverished family, who wants to selfishly eat a whole turkey on All Saints Day, and whether he will share his meal with his wife, children, The Devil, God, or Death. Based on the B Traven novel and the Brother Grimm tale, it remains a haunting highmark in Mexico's moviemaking history.