The Illusion Travels by Streetcar

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Fra B A very easy and funny movie that I surely wasn't expecting from Buñuel, but that surprisingly I have found delightful. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/06/21 Full Review Audience Member 7.6 [Luis Buñuel] [Mx] Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review walter m "Illusion Travels by Streetcar" starts with Caireles(Carlos Navarro) and Tarrajas(Fernando Soto) going above the call of duty by repairing a trolley car well ahead of schedule. And then almost get fired for their efficiency. So, they decide to do the only reasonable thing and get drunk that night, just as they have to perform in a religious pageant. Once the beer runs out, they decide to appropriate some more for themselves. It doesn't stop there, however, as the guys also borrow the repaired trolley car for a ride. It is one thing to make a period piece about the tragedy of the triumph of the car over mass transit and quite another as Luis Bunuel does with his entertaining "Illusion Travels by Streetcar" to do it as it is happening.(The scenes involving the corn meal shortage escape me, as they are probably very much of this specific time and place.) That's even though the story gets off to a rough start, especially the religious pageant which is probably Bunuel just practicing on one of his pet issues. But once it does, the film moves nicely, engagingly proving the universal constant that mass transit is a melting pot for a city's classes, much to the ignorance of the transit's bosses. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Charming if not disappointingly bland? I feel like I missed the context of this movie... there were probably more political references than I would have noticed. But there's something to be said about a nice and simple blue collar adventure. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Another of Bunuel's Mexican films wherein he tells the picaresque tale of two bumbling streetcar workers who, after swiftly repairing a streetcar that had been deemed obsolete (and a few beers), decide to steal it for one last spin. Their adventures take them across Mexico City and in contact with a solid cross-section of the public, including slaughterhouse workers who gleefully (and surreally) hang huge slabs of meat (and heads) from the roof of the tram. Perhaps there is a metaphor or a moral here - certainly Bunuel takes the opportunity to poke fun at corporate capitalism - but any message takes a back seat (ahem) to the overall good time on offer. I particularly enjoyed the staging of Lucifer's banishment from Heaven and Adam and Eve's departure from Eden at the local festival, not unlike the amateur theatrical performances in Renoir's The Rules of the Game in their wacky but creepy surrealism. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member "Illusion Travels by Streetcar is the more aesthetically and politically astringent but less heartfelt cousin to Bunuel's Mexican Bus Ride." Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Illusion Travels by Streetcar

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