Beauties Of The Night (Bellas De Noche)
DOCS D: María José Cuevas. Mexico. 91 min. Sep 12, 7:15 pm, Scotiabank 8 Sep 14, 11 am, AGO Sep 16, 6:15 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 4. Rating: NNN
Director Cuevas catches up with Mexican showgirls of the 70s – the women who found stardom (or at least infamy) by showing a little skin in movies and on TV – in this enjoyable if not particularly revelatory documentary.
Cuevas makes some good points about aging in the entertainment industry (especially an industry as enthusiastically sexist as Mexico’s was at the time), and her subjects are more than willing to open up to the camera. But there’s a lot of blatant manipulation to generate pathos, especially in the sequences involving Wanda Seux and her elderly dogs.
