Film Review: “Dias De Otono”
Rating: 3/5 stars

The late Gabriel Figueroa used Mexico as inspiration for his well-known cinematography in countless Mexican films in the early 1900s.

Tucson's Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd, is holding a celebration of his work behind the camera in Puro Mexicano, a Tucson Film Festival Centennial tribute to Gabriel Figueroa. The film festival, that ran Friday, Nov. 2 through Thursday, Nov. 8 showcased Figuero’s most popular films, including “Enamorada,” “La Perla,” “Vamanos Con Pancho Villa,” “Macario,” “La Virgen Que Forjo Una Patria,” “Dias De Otono,” “Distinto Amanecer” and “Nazarin.”

“The particular films are all selected because of the cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa, so they all have an very distinct look to them,” said Jeff Yanc, program director for the Loft.

“They are all black and white and just really amazing, you can really see patterns in the cinematography even though all of the films are very different.”

Yanc said that all of the films being shown are brand new 35 mm prints of the films which had originally been lost for many years, then rediscovered in Mexico.

“They are being seen in the original format that they were intended to be seen in,” Yanc said.

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Loft Cinema screened the film, “Dias De Otono”, a melodrama from the early ‘60s inspired by a short story by B. Travern. The film, less known by Figueroa fans but still an excellent execution of cinematography, is about a young woman, Luisas, and her quest to obtain her ideal life.

The film begins innocently enough as Luisa enters a seemingly upscale candy shop to seek work, sent by her aunt on her deathbed. After the shop owner, Don Alvino, sees the work she can perform in cake decorating, he begrudgingly hires Luisa.

Luisa lives on her own in a small shack and keeps to herself, always turning down invitations from her female coworkers to go out and have fun. She is often caught imagining that the wedding cakes she decorates for the shop is for her own wedding.

Over time, Don Alvino, a widower with two young boys, begins to fall in love with Luisa. However, she meets a chauffeur and starts chasing after a fanciful future with him.

After plans to marry Carlos, the chauffeur, are announced to her coworkers and a jealous Don Alvino, Luisa gets left at the altar and the lies begin.

Not wanting to accept the fact that she didn’t marry the perfect man and is once again alone, Luisa begins lying and pretending that she is married to Carlos and pregnant with a boy.

Luisa’s lonely life drags pathetically on as she pretends to knit clothes for an imaginary baby and tells her coworkers that Carlos was killed in an accident.

Don Alvino catches on to Luisa’s lies when he sees her at the zoo alone, but she later tells friends at work that she was there with her baby.

A beautiful display of Figueroa’s cinematography occurs during the scene in the zoo, where Luisa is walking cheerfully down a path pretending to hold the hand of a child’s shadow who is walking in front of her.

Don Alvino confesses to Luisa that he wants to marry her and inquires of her lies. Luisa, coming to a realization of her fake life, runs away from him.

The film commences as Luisa takes a basket full of things she bought for her imaginary baby and leaves it outside of an orphanage.

Figueroa’s “Dias De Otono”, though in black and white with English subtitles, was exquisitely filmed, and detracted from some obvious dramatic dialogue.