By Michael Colford
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Arturo Ripstein
Starring: Ana Martin | Carmen Sa linas | Fernando Soler | Gonzalo Vega | Lucha Villa | Roberto Cobo
Original language title: El lugar sin límites
Country: mexico
Year: 1978
Running time: 110
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076336/reference
Thom says: “My brother has a dear friend in Seattle who’s a great film scholar and aficionado and he recently recommended Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein with some 60 films credited to him. In fact, he’s still working. His films have won 5 Mexican Oscars and he’s won 3 times as Best Director. In point of fact, this very film won Best Film. The story is delightfully bizarre, to say the least. In an isolated town with the only standing building being a whorehouse the ‘owner’ of the town is trying to buy the prostitute palace so he can sell the entire area for a cheap profit. The whorehouse is owned by Manuelita, a middle-aged gay drag queen who sleeps in the same bed as his daughter. Returning to town is a macho man who both Manuelita & his daughter are in love with. The entire town’s general acceptance of Manuelita’s drag persona is out of another reality, but Ripstein’s craziness is catching. His 1976 film THE FAR SIDE OF PARADISE is also worth a long look. 4.5 cats“