A Day Without a Mexican

This article is about the 2004 film. For the nationwide boycott in 2006, see Great American Boycott.

A Day Without a Mexican
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Sergio Arau
Produced by	Isaac Artenstein
Written by	Sergio Arau Yareli Arizmendi Sergio Guerrero
Starring	Yareli Arizmendi John Getz Maureen Flannigan
Music by	Juan Colomer Molotov
Cinematography	Alan Caudillo
Editing by	Daniel Fort, Shaula Vega (uncredited)
Distributed by	Altavista Films Televisa Cine
Release date(s)	May 14, 2004
Running time	100 min.
Country	United States Mexico Spain
Language	English Spanish

A Day Without a Mexican is a 2004 film directed by Sergio Arau.

A Day Without a Mexican, opened on May 14, 2004 in limited release throughout Southern California and on September 17 in theaters in Chicago, Texas, Florida and New York City, is a fantasy in which all Mexicans in the U.S. state of California suddenly disappear.

This was Eduardo Palomo's last film before he died of a heart attack.

Plot

This film takes a satirical look at the range of effects on the (non-Mexican, mostly White) Californians who remain if California's Mexican (both U.S. citizens and immigrants) population suddenly disappeared. The disappearance coincides with a "pink fog" which surrounds California. Nothing crosses the pink fog border, and it is said to be responsible for the lack of telephone and internet communications outside the state. During the course of which many theories are brought up concerning the disappearance of the Mexicans from Biological warfare/terrorism to government experiment conspiracies to Alien Abductions and the Rapture. The film revolves around a series of characters throughout the movie who are affected by the event: Lila Rodriguez (Yareli Arizmendi), a LA TV reporter whose Mexican parents have disappeared and is considered California's "last remaining Mexican," The temporary Governor of California (John Getz) and his wife (Melinda Allen), who as the cover shows now has to deal with the work of her Mexican servants. Mary Jo Quintana whose Mexican-musician husband has disappeared. Louis McClaire (Muse Watson) a California farmer who employs Mexican labourers has a Mexican friend and bigot son who is glad that the Mexicans are gone. As well as several members newscast crew that Lila Rodriguez works with and Border Patrol agents who also lose several Mexican American colleagues. A series of others are randomly interviewed expressing their opinions on the topics. The show also provides the statistical impact of California's Economy, Law Enforcement and Education systems.

Reception

The film's 2004 awards include best screenplay at the Cartagena Film Festival and a nomination for best film; a special jury award at the Gramado Film Festival; and an award for best editing at the Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival.

The film was number one at the box office in its opening weekend in Mexico, although it was only a moderate box office success in the United States, grossing an estimated $4.1 million. Critical reception among American reviewers was lukewarm. Ella Taylor of the L.A. weekly describes it as "A terrific premise is mangled to a pulp, then beaten to death in this forced mockumentary." ^[1] E! Online is less kind, stating "This Day not only lacks Mexicans but also good acting, sharp storytelling and humor." ^[2] Rotten Tomatoes critics on the site list it as a 29% on the Tomatometer.^[3]

The trailer of the film in Mexico included the controversial song "Frijolero" by Molotov.

See also

• The City Without Jews: A prophetic Austrian Expressionist film from 1924 on what would happen to Vienna if all its Jewish population were removed.

Notes

1. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1137081/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=1281277
2. ^ http://www.eonline.com/movies/reviews/index.jsp
3. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/day_without_a_mexican

External links

• A Day Without a Mexican Film's website
• A Day Without a Mexican at the Internet Movie Database
• A Day Without a Mexican at AllRovi
• The Latino Impact on the Southern California Economy conference