Sombra dolorosa

SOMBRA DOLOROSA is probably the best Guy Maddin short I've seen yet! Filmed in vivid color and edited in Maddin's rapid-fire collage style, it follows the story of a Mexican widow who must defeat El Muerto (think El Santo as the Grim Reaper) in a boxing ring in order to save her husband from death. When she fails, El Meurto must eat "The Meal of the Dead" before the solar eclipse so that her husband's soul may be released from his belly.

The short is extremely funny and a little bit unnerving. It shares the "dead father" motif, intertitles, and artificial atmosphere of many of Guy Maddin's works, but the colorful Mexican backdrop puts it into a class of its own.

Definitely check out SOMBRA DOLOROSA!