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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Fox Lorber
Salesrank: 61360
Released: November 16, 1999 |
| Our Price: $79.84 |
| Used Price: $7.69 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Midaq Alley Reviews:
a new fan 
2007-08-13 - As someone said, it doesn't show "all mexico" but gives you an idea of the diversity of the people on a big city tought ...you'll only find those in "el callejon in Mexico DF"..Did not see until now tough I've heard about it.If you see it will show you some of the characters well presented and acted like Susanita or Alma...and will help you to understand the diversity of a crowded, and full of surprises and myths that walk around you "even now" in a rich country as Mexico is..."thumbs up"
This masterpiece is my favorite movie ever...
2005-02-15 - This film has not had the exposure it deserves, since it is truly a masterpiece, not only of Mexican film but of international film in general. It takes the idea of viewing one story from different perspectives to new heights, as we watch how ten different things can all be happening at once, without any of those involved realizing what is going on.
The film uses a technique that has now been copied ad nauseum, beginning each section with a title screen containing one character's name and then telling the "same" story from that character's perspective. But each of these perspectives is completely disconnected from the others and creates a set of snapshots of the life on Miracle Alley at one point in time.
Because each character is so different from the others (a middle-aged man in an unhappy marriage, a young woman struggling to survive in a heartless world, a wealthy but homely woman who doesn't fit into the society around her), the film gives a great overview of different types of people who probably do exist in Mexico today, all so very diverse. Could be an eye-opener for many American viewers who look at Mexicans as one big indistinct mass, since this film shows just how different the people living on one tiny street can be.
It truly is my favorite movie of all times (and I have seen a lot!), so I must recommend it.
Different Perspectives Played Out in a Game of Dominos 
2005-02-08 - Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfuiz won the Nobel Prize for this complex story originally set in Cairo and transposed to Mexico City (El Callejon de los milagros) and the result was a 1995 Mexican film that won essentially every award available after its release. Now ten years later if it looks a bit less than tidy in production elements including acting, this film at least served notice that the Mexican film industry was coming of age (and producing such greats as 'Amores Perros', 'Y tu mama tambien', 'El Crimen del Padre Amaro', etc).
MIDAQ ALLEY is a poor neighborhood in Mexico City populated by a group of folk whose lives interact in complex ways. There are three central characters - Alma (Salma Hayek), Susanita (Margarita Sanz) and Rutilio (Ernesto Gomez Cruz) - each of whom is a dreamer and as such pursues lives that result in dire circumstances. Rutilio, while married to the long-suffering ignored Eusebia (Delia Casanova) and father to an aimless son Chava (Juan Manuel Bernal) - is a closeted gay man whose sexuality becomes public when he encounters Jimy (Esteban Soberanes). His son discovers the two in embrace and beats him severely, forcing Chava to flee Midaq Alley to the US to escape the law and his father's anger. Chava's best friend Abel (Bruno Bichir) is in love with the beautiful Alma but agrees to flee with Chava to the US, pledging he will return to marry Alma when he has become 'wealthy in America'.
Alma feels forsaken and it is not long before she gives in to a smarmy pimp who removes her from Midaq Alley with the promise of wealth, beautiful clothes, and drugs.... Susanita is a less than attractive spinster who owns the boarding house where many of the charaacters live. She is convinced by Alma's fortune telling mother Dona Cata (Maria Rojo) that love is on the way which only allows Susanita to become enamored with a young wily thief Guicho (Luis Felipe Tovar) who marries her for her money and dumps her.
Each of these character's stories is told through separate chapters that start from an initial unity of dialogue over a game of dominos and demonstrate the various perceptions of versions of 'truth'. The concept works well and the stories are better fleshed out because of the technique. The film is well photographed, moves with a rapid pace for a two hour + movie, and is only weak in the acting from the conprimario roles, each of which remains nebulously unexplained and frustrating. The main characters give it their all and the result is a film that almost becomes compelling. Were it re-made today, given the growth in Mexican cinema prestige, it probably would be a powerful movie. Grady Harp, February 2005
El Callejon de los Milagros 
2003-07-06 - The movie itself is a great mexican masterpiece, but avoid this DVD at all cost
It have none extra features, and the worst of all, you can't remove the english subtitles.... the aspect ratio is Full Screen and the audio is 2.0
I recommend this movie in a VHS rather than a DVD
(unfortunatelly the only dvd version of this movie, is this featureless DVD... grrr!)
Two words: Salma Hayek
2002-06-01 - Let's face it. This film won 49 awards from Latin American film festivals (including 1995 Ariel award - the Mexican Oscar - for best movie) but never really got a big welcome on the American market, even after being shown at the Washington D.C. International Film Festival. Was it because, when it comes to this kind of romantic drama, American moviegoers had seen a lot better? This film was acclaimed for a good screenplay (based on the novel by an Egyptian Nobel prize winner) and its cast and crew deserved some credit for their efforts, but all for all, it did nothing but reminded me of a fabulous classic, 1959's "Imitation of Life" (with Lana Turner, Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner).... Anyway, now that Salma Hayek has worked her way to stardom, anybody who's interested in her stunning beauty wouldn't want to miss her debut as an actress in "Midaq Alley". That's fair, because she truly carried the film so well. Although Margarita Sanz also won some Best Actress awards, people would definitely tend to remember more of Alma than of Susanita -- or so I think.
