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Cassandro, the Exotico!

Play trailer 1:25 Poster for Cassandro, the Exotico! Released Jul 19, 2019 1h 13m Documentary LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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85% Tomatometer 13 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
After 26 years of spinning dives and flying uppercuts in the ring, Cassandro, the star of the gender-bending cross-dressing Mexican wrestlers known as the Exoticos, is far from retiring.
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Cassandro, the Exotico!

Critics Reviews

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Mark Kermode Kermode & Mayo's Film Review An intimate and interesting portrait...a documentary told with great compassion, very funny, very moving and very charming... Jun 16, 2020 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian This film is a diverting study of Cassandro's belief in himself as a dramatic, suffering character, in art as in life. Rated: 3/5 May 14, 2020 Full Review Robert Abele Los Angeles Times "Cassandro," which recalls the grabbed verve of a '60s-era verité snapshot, charts the reluctant dimming of this extravagant icon with affectionate energy and lasting poignance. Aug 1, 2019 Full Review Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed A bold, charming, and unique sports documentary about a true trailblazer. Jun 24, 2020 Full Review Tom Beasley Flickering Myth There are glimpses of Mickey Rourke's Oscar-nommed work in The Wrestler. Sadly, though, this rather disappears in the maelstrom of self-consciously quirky colour and soft focus. Rated: 2/5 Jun 8, 2020 Full Review Rene Sanchez Cine Sin Fronteras Lucha libre and drag mix in this fascinating, charming and intimate documentary about a Mexican wrestler who has never hidden his identity behind a mask. [Full Review in Spanish] Rated: 3/4 Aug 9, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (5) audience reviews
Audience Member The greatest 01 hour: and 13 minutes of wrestling ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Un relato crudo e íntimo que retrata a la perfección el sufrimiento del ser al ser diferente del resto Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Director Marie Losier's independent documentary on the cross-dressing, openly gay Mexican wrestler-superstar is an intimate portrait of a man of many contradictions who fought his way into acceptance and (unlikely) popularity in a sport that's often jacked up on homophobic masculinity yet at the same time, camp as Christmas. Showing on MUBI now, this film, shot on 16mm, lasts all of 73mins and it feels like I'm watching someone's home video. With no frills or gimmicks, the presentation is as straight-laced and ordinary as its subject matter isn't. Cassandro may be a glamorous character in the ring, but behind the scene, it is pure hard work and dogged persistence. While the film touches on his humble beginnings, as well as his decades-long animosity with his father (which has been reconciled), they are not delved in particularly deeply – something a different documentary might have spent more time on. Relegating all that to the past instead, the only backward looking this film does in any detail is his rise to fame in the lucha libre business from villain to hero. But even that is just to set the background for the real focus here: the physical toll the sport has taken on him and how he is handling the possibility that his 26-years long career of pain and suffering, both on and off the ring, is about to (or has already) end(ed). For someone who find wrestling generally a fascinating and somewhat sexy contradiction in and of itself, this is an attractive, enthralling and ultimately bittersweet view that's worthy of 3 stars. For those who don't, it will only be of passing curiosity value, so it's more of a 2 stars affair. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Es una lástima que la historia de Cassandro haya caído en manos de Marie Losier. El documental es malo, del todo superficial, esta mal rodado y termina mostrando cosas muy irrelevantes que nunca se acercan al corazón de este gran personaje. La historia de Cassandro debe ser demoledora, cuenta con todos los ingredientes para ser una historia superb pero este flojo documental no muestra mayor cosa, no hace honor a su protagonista, lástima. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Wow this did not keep my interest. Turned it off. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/21/19 Full Review Read all reviews
Cassandro, the Exotico!

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis After 26 years of spinning dives and flying uppercuts in the ring, Cassandro, the star of the gender-bending cross-dressing Mexican wrestlers known as the Exoticos, is far from retiring.
Director
Marie Losier
Producer
Antoine Barraud, Edgard Tenembaum, Carole Chassaing
Screenwriter
Marie Losier, Antoine Barraud
Distributor
Film Movement
Production Co
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Tamara Films, Garidi Films, Tu Vas Voir Productions
Genre
Documentary, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 19, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 17, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.8K
Runtime
1h 13m
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