By Day and By Night (De Día y de Noche) Review

Director Alejandro Molina gives us a futuristic look of how things would be if overpopulation were controlled by manipulating people’s DNA so that half of the population lived during the day while the other half lived during the night in this Mexican Sci-Fi Drama.

The plot is very simple, a woman named Aurora (Sandra Echeverría) has a child but has no idea where she is. Urbano (Manuel Balbi), a scientist, encounters an unknown child and takes her under his guardianship. At the same time, Doctor Prol who has worked on an enzyme that segregates the population, must prove to his superiors that this enzyme has faults and human emotion cannot be revoked. This to save his own life. In the process, he unwillingly becomes a villain in the story. Now, with the help of Urbano, Aurora must devise a way to reunite with her daughter Luna who has inexplicably changed shifts (Luna now lives during the night) before time runs out and are exiled from the Great Metropolis they have been accustomed to. How can Aurora, Luna, and Urbano coexist in worlds divided by Night and Day?

The cinematography is amazing. The dialogue very sophisticated yet simple to understand, however, the absence of dialogue in this film is also very important and carried a heavy impact. In fact, the last 20 or so minutes of the film contains no dialogue whatsoever. When asked why he decided to finish the movie devoid of dialogue, Molina simply said: “Silence might be a good thing for us.” Furthermore, the motif of Day and Night is used wonderfully to illustrate the division between people yet at the same time how powerful it is when uniting people as seen in the eclipse scene.

The actors do a fantastic job in their respective roles. I was very impressed with the acting of the little girl that portrayed Luna. Amazing acting. Echeverría, a well known telenovela actress in Latin America, looks beautiful in this film and definitely connects with the audience through her performance.

The film does not come without its cons. It is very slow in getting to the point. There is rarely any action. Not a clear pursuit by the villains of the film. And one of the biggest drawbacks is that there’s no sense of time and place. All the audience knows is that the story takes place in a futuristic society on a location referred to as the Great Metropolis. Also, there are many long takes so if you are one of those people that get impatient quickly, this will definitely get a bit annoying. The audience is not given too much background information on the film’s characters and their names are known only on a first name basis. In fact, one can say the film concentrates only on the “here and now.”

Several themes come into play. Hope, Family Values, Perseverance, Love, Free Will, etc. The failure of the leaders that are running this society in eradicating human emotion and anything related to it shows just how powerful the human mind and person is, and how unique we all are as individuals. I have to say, this film is so creative and intelligent with its theme or themes that this is not for all audiences. Furthermore, the ending will not please everyone. The film has an open ending leaving it up to the audience to decide what happens to the characters in particular the protagonists of the movie. This is not bad by all means but it may frustrate some people who just sat through 90 minutes waiting for the happy Hollywood ending that may or may not have come. If you give this film a chance you may be pleasantly surprised.

SCREENINGS AT SBIFF: Monday January 31, 2PM at Metro 4 Theater IV in Santa Barbara.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

By Day and By Night

Q&A With Alejandro Molina

Alejandro Molina was gracious enough to stay after the film to answer some questions. He revealed that “By Day and By Night” took him 7 years to make with the help of the Mexican government due mostly to budget issues. Sci-Fi movies are not too common in Mexico and the fan base for this film are not too flattering as Molina put it. Really, the film’s success is found outside of Mexico. Molina stated that the inspiration behind this film came to him ten years ago when the Mexican government divided workers’ shifts in the public transportation system to have construction happening by night as well as day in hopes that this would maximize productivity. Molina also said that when he envisioned the futuristic society of the Great Metropolis portrayed in “By Day and By Night,” he turned to Mexico’s ancient past when big, heavy stone boulders adorned cities. This is especially evident in the exterior metropolis shots. Molina shed light on what he was trying to convey in the film and explained in detail some of the film’s more indigestible moments, but of course I will not reveal that. This film is simply a must see if you are into movies that make you actually think.

Mario Galaxy 2

SPOILER ALERT. Alright so here it is, my official Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii review. Now, I know other sites have already reviewed the game but they are just a business not the Average Joe. Fry’s Electronics had a $10 discount on the game and I decided to go buy a copy. First of, Mario video games have always demeaned women and this one is no exception. I mean seriously, the game portrays a beautiful woman, Princess Toadstool, who is helpless and powerless against a tyrannical reptile. She has to let a man save her while she just sits there and does absolutely nothing. Why not have the game be about an evil villain who is set out to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom without having to kidnap Princess Toadstool? Furthermore, what’s the deal with portraying non-human Toads as little people who are incompetent of taking care of their own princess and kingdom always seeking the help of a human taller than they are? Additionally, Mario Galaxy 2 is full of sexual innuendos starting with the opening scene of the game in which Bowser has Princess Toadstool in his hand promising that she will be baking for him…baking is work, work=job and the fact Bowser has her in her hand…well you get the picture. In fact, in that scene you can blatantly see how the game sees women as belonging in the kitchen baking and cooking. Also, what’s the deal with the penis shape of the Toads? Mario’s spaceship is also in the shape of himself. Talk about being conceited and being seen as acceptable. 
After getting past all of the “wonderful” things Mario has to offer, we get to the game mechanics and gameplay.
PLOT: Always the same as past titles. Bowser kidnaps Toadstool and Mario has to rescue her by collecting Power Coins that will propel his Mario-shaped ship to her and face Bowser in an “epic” showdown.
MUSIC: The music is great because it blends the new with the old. Fans of the series will be thrilled to hear the tunes of the classic Nintendo era Mario. The music definitely succeeds in getting the player to immerse him/herself in the game.
GRAPHICS: Graphics are pretty much the same as Mario Galaxy, the Wii’s first title. However, they do look like they have been enhanced for HD televisions when using the component cable for the Wii.
GAMEPLAY: The controls are exactly the same as Mario Galaxy. Nothing new offered here. However, all of the new power-ups and the ability to ride Yoshi and sling his tongue out to eat, interact, and destroy enemies is a really nice aspect to this game, and fun to do. The downside is that you cannot carry Yoshi over to the Galaxies you visit only on those Galaxies where he is found. After playing with Yoshi for the first time, you then have access to him on your spaceship after every mission. There’s not much you can do with him except have him eat apples to spawn a 1-UP Life Mushroom. In fact, something cool about the game is the fact that as with any conqueror, you bring back to your spaceship “trophies” and other characters you encounter on your travels. Playing through the levels of Mario Galaxy 2 is not terribly hard but it does require the player to use their brain and think before they act to have a chance at survival. Additionally, the game does include many 2-D levels, which would remind old-time fans of the Mario series of those classic Mario games. These levels are very enjoyable to play through. The game’s camera can sometimes get a bit annoying when you’re under the gun to complete tasks such as the Prankster Comet levels, but for the most part the camera does its job well allowing you to have better control of the action. 
BOSS FIGHTS: Boss fights are impressive especially when fighting the planet-sized Bowser. There’s no manual provided to tell you how to defeat the bosses, but when using your brain, it’s not hard to figure out what you have to do. Because the player is required to do a bit of detective work to figure out how to defeat the Bosses, defeating them just makes it all more gratifying.
All in all, Mario Galaxy 2 gets an 8 out of 10 in my book. Although getting Life Mushrooms is a lot easier in this game than in Mario Galaxy, once you save and quit the game to go have a life outside of your bedroom or living room, those Life Mushrooms accumulated disappear. It’s not terribly bad considering other titles in the Mario series do the same, but it does get annoying. Once the game is saved via mid-point save flags or after passing the level, even if you run out of lives and is game over, you will come back to life and just restart the level from the beginning. However, if you manage to find the hidden planets in certain levels, those will be unlocked even if you die and start from the beginning of the level. Less stress, less work. The game does offer a 2-player mode, but just like in Mario Galaxy, this mode is cheap although some modifications went into it making it just a little better. Mario Galaxy 2 is indeed a very enjoyable Mario game to play.