Beauties of the Night (2016 film)

Beauties of the Night (in Spanish Bellas de noche) is a 2016 Mexican documentary film. It is the first production of the filmmaker María José Cuevas. The film shows a glimpse of the glory, sunset and resurgence of five of the main showgirls (vedettes) that triumphed in Mexico in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s.

Plot

They were the Queens of the Night in late-night Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s. The names of the great Vedettes illuminated the streets of Mexico City from the awnings of the great nightclubs, cabarets and theaters of the capital. But time passed. Nightlife changed in Mexico. New types of entertainment replaced them and the big vedettes seemed to have been forgotten.

Today, more than thirty years of its splendor in the nightlife of Mexico, Beauties of the Night explores the lives of five of the main vedettes of the golden years: Olga Breeskin, Lyn May, Rossy Mendoza, Wanda Seux and Princesa Yamal. The film shows the viewer a deeper facet of the current life of these five vedettes. Women who, despite the years and having taken their life to the extreme, are full of life and with an enviable physical condition. Not only have they managed to reinvent themselves and survive in the entertainment world, but also in life itself. Between laughter and tears, the film reflects the passage of years, emotions and personal challenges for the lives of each of these women^[1]

Cast

• Olga Breeskin
• Lyn May
• Rossy Mendoza
• Wanda Seux
• Princesa Yamal

Production

The title of the documentary evokes the film Bellas de noche, the first film of the so-called Cine de ficheras, which dates back to 1975.

The idea of Cuevas to pay homage to these women arises from her childhood. Cuevas, daughter of the prestigious Mexican artist José Luis Cuevas, had contact with several of these women, who were friends of her father. Years later, Cuevas had a meeting with Princesa Yamal, who performed an Arab dance in front of her, giving her the idea of producing this documentary, whose realization lasted for a decade.^[2] The film delivers an exercise in which the contrasts of time come to light and unveils what lies behind the stardom. You can appreciate an honest, dynamic and effective exercise in which remains the curiosity to know more details. Although the documentary came from the idea of paying homage to these women, the relationship between them and the filmmaker María José Cuevas, became so close that they became a family.^[3]

Awards

References

External links

• Beauties of the Night on IMDb
• Official Facebook
• Official Twitter
• Beauties of the Night in Ambulante.com
• Official Trailer
• Beauties of the Night Review in the Toronto Film Festival
• Beauties of the Night in International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam