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Mexican Idol

When I'm sitting on the couch jumping from one channel to another rapid-fire, I often stop the surfing when it comes to a Spanish-speaking soap opera. It's partly because I find the women to be almost universally astoundingly beautiful. But it's also the melodramatic production and music. A mere glance is treated like the most important event in the history of mankind. It is somewhat addicting but after a few minutes it loses its grip on me because I don't understand any Spanish beyond how to say "wrestling" or "movie".

"Casi Divas" is set in the world of Mexican soap opera and it combines this genre with the "reality" TV phenomenon that has taken over American television. Picture soap opera meets "American Idol". The story centers upon four women who are determined to snare the lead role in the upcoming film, "Maria Enamorada", based on the television show of the same name. Eva Gallardo (Patricia Llaca) is the lead on the television version but she has been deemed "too old" to play the part in the big screen version. She is not altogether in agreement with this opinion. More accurately, she is insulted and furious and bent on gaining revenge on the producer, Alejandro Mateos (Julio Bracho). Alejandro also happens to be her lover in the film.

The four ladies vying for the lead include Francisca (Maya Zapata), a native who has arrived from her isolated mountain hometown, Ximena (Ana Layevska), who grew up the rich daughter of a banker and is willing to do anything to win, Catalina (Diana Garcia), a tough chick who comes from an even tougher border town where women are routinely abducted and murdered, and Yesenia (Daniela Schmidt), an exuberant hairdresser from a rundown section of Mexico City. Yesenia has always fancied herself a star and leads the live of a diva, minus the actual success part. Their paths cross on the television show and the country of Mexico is transfixed with the spectacle of watching them attempting to be the next Maria Enamorada.

For the bulk of the movie, director Issa Lopez keeps things crackling along pretty strongly, depending primarily on comedy and the beauty and desire to win of the four young women. However, it's the scenes with Eva Gallardo that truly jump off of the screen. Ms. Llaca is a seasoned performer and she clearly relishes her role here.

Sprinkled throughout "Casi Divas" is a bit of heaviness and a look inside the darker sides of life in Mexico. While it's important to the story, I suppose, it doesn't feel like a smooth transition when Issa Lopez jumps back and forth between the comic aspects and the dramatic aspects. But this is a minor quibble. Lopez has fashioned a very good, albeit, not great peek inside the psyche of the characters presented here. The ending feels a little forced but not to the extent that we don't buy what we have just watched. "Casi Divas" is definitely worth seeing and director Issa Lopez is a directing force to be reckoned with in the future.