7 Dias

I recently watched the movie "7 Dias," which features Jaime Camil (formerly Fernando on La Fea Mas Bella) in a major role. He plays a gangster, and he looks quite different in this role -- so much so that you'd hardly recognize him -- and of course he gives a very good performance, no surprise there.

Guess who else is in the movie? The actor who plays Alirio on Juan Querendon. The movie is supposed to be a comedy (more on that below) but Alirio has a serious role as a scary gangster and he is quite believable. So for any Alirio haters out there -- like my grandmother, who is convinced that Mexicans migrate to the US simply to get away from Alirio -- the actor really can act. (I don't know why Alirio's yelling is supposed to be funny but I'm sure there's a reason. Maybe he's doing an impression of a famous politician or something? But I digress.)

The movie is about a concert promoter who risks his life to try to organize a U2 concert in his city. It's a comedy but I couldn't tell that at first because of the intense scenes of the promoter almost being executed by Jaime Camil, Alirio and their minions.

It didn't help that I opted to watch without subtitles to test my Spanish comprehension. Well, I failed the test. I understood almost nothing that was said. It sounded to me as if everyone was muttering throughout the entire movie. Jaime Camil does have one big, lengthy speech but I didn't understand that, either. Duh me.

No wonder people make fun of telenovelas -- they must be very simplistic because I can usually understand them pretty well, but as soon as I leave telenovela land I'm in trouble. Even Plaza Sesamo (Spanish "Sesame Street") defeats me. But I am digressing again.

Even if you don't understand Spanish, some of the movie's humor comes through thanks to Jaime Camil. He's the highlight of the movie, at least for me. As a U2 fan, I'm sorry to say that the band does not appear in the movie except in some concert footage at the end, although you can hear their songs all the way through (must be new stuff because I didn't recognize most of it; no Joshua Tree here).

Netflix offers "7 Dias" now so you can get it there if you're a member. If not, look on Amazon. I didn't love it, but it was interesting and worth watching. Next time I'll use the subtitles.