Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      Mateo

      Released Aug 21, 2015 1h 28m Documentary List
      63% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 53% Audience Score 50+ Ratings Matthew Stoneman leaves a Los Angeles prison, becomes a singer of Spanish songs, travels to Cuba and records albums. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Apr 09 Buy Now

      Where to Watch

      Mateo

      Fandango at Home

      Rent Mateo on Fandango at Home, or buy it on Fandango at Home.

      Critics Reviews

      View All (8) Critics Reviews
      Monica Castillo Paste Magazine Whether intentional or not, Mateo left a bitter aftertaste -- and Matthew Stoneman's story becomes one so much more grating than intriguing. Rated: 6.7/10 Aug 28, 2015 Full Review Joe Leydon Variety It's easy to see what drew filmmaker Aaron I. Naar to his eponymous subject in "Mateo," but it's almost impossible to share his enthusiasm. Aug 21, 2015 Full Review Michael Rechtshaffen Los Angeles Times What begins as a quirky portrait of the artist as a gringo mariachi troubadour proves to be a telling study of a lost soul whose palpable passion for his music acts as a surrogate for more meaningful human contact. Aug 20, 2015 Full Review C.J. Prince Way Too Indie Mateo won't do much for an average viewer, but those interested in the subject matter will find themselves having a good time with it. Jun 20, 2019 Full Review Jennie Kermode Eye for Film A deceptively incisive portrait of a man living life on what he thinks ought to be his own terms, Mateo makes for easy listening and consciously troubling viewing. Rated: 3.5/5 Aug 24, 2015 Full Review Kam Williams Baret News An uplifting testament to the notion that it's still possible for a sinner to find his true calling and turn his life around after first paying his debt to society. Rated: 3/4 Aug 21, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (3) audience reviews
      Audience Member The greatest 01 hour: and 28 minutes with real footage!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member With extraordinary subtly and understatement, this film is as poignant as the music it showcases and as complex as the personality into which it delves. A fly-on-the-wall, ostensibly non-judgmental approach actually delivers almost painfully precise artistic, moral and psychological insights into its subject. The film charts New England-born troubadour Matthew "Mateo" Stoneman's obsessive drive to produce an album of his mariachi compositions. He is candid about time in prison, committed for stealing to fund his recording addiction: it is in goal that he learns his style of music. He scrapes together money playing social clubs and churches in Los Angeles, his domestic life as feral as the stray cats he feeds on his back stoop, to finance recording forays in Havana, Cuba. There he is adopted by a network of bed and breakfast hosts, back-up artists, and recording engineers who look out for his wellbeing, which mostly consists of trying to find him a girlfriend. For, as his wise, matriarchal landlady observes, without companionship he falls prey to "isolation and immaturity." His search for love, almost equally all-consuming as his music making, stands in marked contrast to the focus and discipline of the latter. We see him gauchely taking up with bemused local women or voyeuristically observing prostitutes from a distance, which later echoes in a sad visit to New Hampshire where he spies on his estranged parents from the woods. And yet, for all the pathos and awkwardness of his private life, genuine charisma comes through as soon as the crooning begins. His Cuban comrades comment on it and it reflects in the devotion of audiences in the sold-out Japanese tour that climaxes the movie. Our nebbish, it transpires, really is "Big in Japan." Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Mateo se llama en verdad Matthew Stoneman. El afiche a nuestra izquierda no corresponde, en todo caso, pues no es un bailarín. Mateo es un cantante norteamericano que tras su paso por la cárcel en su país, adoptó como propias la música y cultura latina. El documental se vuelve así el experimento de acompañar a un bicho raro, un gringo cantando en español que ama Cuba y se descontrola por sus mujeres. Recomendable. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      More Like This

      View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
      78% 80% Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey TRAILER for Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey 90% 76% The Iran Job 91% 77% The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest 75% 44% Above and Below TRAILER for Above and Below 100% 83% Song From the Forest Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

      Photos

      View All Mateo photos

      Mateo

      Mateo (2014) Mateo (2014) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Matthew Stoneman leaves a Los Angeles prison, becomes a singer of Spanish songs, travels to Cuba and records albums.
      Director
      Aaron I. Naar
      Producer
      Andrew Lauren, Louis Venezia, Adam Schlesinger
      Distributor
      XLrator Media
      Genre
      Documentary
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Aug 21, 2015, Limited
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Dec 19, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 28m
      Most Popular at Home Now