While some Hollywood watchers were impressed by all the critically acclaimed performances by Black actors last year, we're more in awe of the great movies made in 2006 by Mexican directors. Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu - put those names on your personal hotlist and learn how to pronounce the vowels properly.

Lynn Hirschberg of the NY Times wrote a profile today on all three directors, who happen to be the best of friends. Here's Hirschberg's crib note on their recent work:

"In 2006, the trio created three of the most thrilling films of the year. "Babel," which traces the global ramifications of a stray bullet, was directed by I....rritu; "Pan's Labyrinth," a kind of Catholic fairy tale set against the Spanish Civil War, was directed by del Toro; and "Children of Men," a dystopian view of a world without youth, was directed by Cuar..n."

What is incredible about all three of these directors is their ability to pull influence from their homeland roots without having to make their films overtly Mexican. As we can already see, both movie audiences and the statue handlers love it.


If you have some time, watch this Charlie Rose interview with the three amigos: