VARIETY review of Jorge Algora's THE MUDBOY (EL NIÑO DE BARRO) -- a.k.a. "The Mud Boy"
FOR TRAILERS, 'MAKING OF' VIDEOS, & STILLS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE
"A dizzying, potent brew of history, mystery and pederasty, 'The Mud Boy' appears to be the product of an overheated imagination but is, in fact, based on, and fairly faithful to, the real-life story of a 10-year-old boy in early 20th century Argentina. The excesses of the story are reined in by intelligent treatment, with thoughtful perfs, fine period atmospherics and a well-achieved sense of dread making up for occasionally clunky direction and loose scripting. Pic has done poor B.O. domestically, but as a superior Spanish stab at a genre item could score at chiller themed fests." -- Variety's Jonathan Holland, July 9th
Jorge Algora's Spanish-Argentine psychological thriller The Mudboy (El niño de barro) -- a.k.a. "The Mud Boy" (alternative spelling) -- is set to be screened in the First Films World Competition (Compétition mondiale des premières œuvres) section of this year's World Film Festival (Festival des Films du Monde) -- "WFF" for short -- in Montréal, which runs from August 23rd to September 3rd. Filmax (Sociedad General de Derechos Audiovisuales S.A.) released the movie theatrically in Spain on May 18th.
The screenplay for The Mudboy was written by Algora, Christian Busquier, and Héctor Carré. The movie stars Maribel Verdú as Estela, Daniel Freire as Petrie, Chete Lera as Dr. Soria, Juan Ciancio as Mateo, César Bordón as Octavio, Abel Ayala as Cayetano, Rolly Serrano as Blas, Oscar Alegre as Valentín, and Sergio Boris as Palacios.
Here's a synopsis for The Mudboy from the official website for the movie: "Based on a true story.
Buenos Aires, 1912. A series of brutal murders are sweeping the town.
Mateo (Juan Ciancio), a 10-year-old boy, holds a secret: sometimes his mind guides him to a dark place in his memory where he is eyewitness to a series of murders.
When his secret is revealed, many people think he is the murderer.
Estela, his mother (Maribel Verdú), with the help of a forensic policeman named Dr. Soria (Chete Lera), tries to find a rational explanation for the visions and then challenge the scepticism of Petrie (Daniel Freire), the police inspector.
Meanwhile murders continue... And chaos takes hold of the situation."
For more information on The Mudboy, see ScreenAnarchy's third, second and first articles on it.
Those who are interested in The Mudboy may also wish to read the ScreenAnarchy articles on Paco Cabezas' Spanish-Argentine-Swedish horror The Appeared (Aparecidos), Sergio Esquenazi's Argentine-Spanish horror Winter Visitor (Visitante de invierno), Isidro Ortiz's Spanish horror-thriller Escalofrío, and Demián Rugna's English-language Argentine horror The Last Gateway.
The Mudboy trailer #1 (downloadable 6 MB MOV file)
The Mudboy 480 x 270 trailer #2 (downloadable 3.1 MB MOV file)
The Mudboy 352 x 288 trailer #2 (downloadable 4.2 MB MOV file)
The Mudboy 320 x 240 trailer #2 (downloadable 1.9 MB MOV file)
The Mudboy 'making of' video #1 (downloadable 2 MB MOV file)
The Mudboy 'making of' video #2 (downloadable 1.9 MB MOV file)
Filmax: The Mudboy stills gallery
The Mudboy official website
Adivina Producciones: The Mudboy
Iroko Films: The Mudboy
Filmax: The Mudboy
Variety: The Mudboy review
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GOMORRAHY.com: The Appeared (w/ teaser trailer, 16 stills, etc.)
GOMORRAHY.com: The Last Gateway (w/ trailer, 10 stills, etc.)
