The best Juan Carlos Colombo’s drama movies

Faced with his own mortality, an ingenious alchemist tried to perfect an invention that would provide him with the key to eternal life. It was called the Cronos device. When he died more than 400 years later, he took the secrets of this remarkable device to the grave with him. Now, an elderly antiques dealer has found the hellish machine hidden in a statue and learns about its incredible powers. The more he uses the device, the younger he becomes...but nothing comes without a price. Life after death is just the beginning as this nerve-shattering thriller unfolds and the fountain of youth turns bloody.

Mexico, 1949. The fable of a janitor turned Mayor on a little town lost in the Mexican desert, who gradually realizes how far his new acquainted power and corruption can get him.

The fictional Father Ángel de la Cruz is based on Legion of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, whose long history of child abuse was not addressed until 2006 and only publicly acknowledged in 2009. But director Luis Urquiza chooses to structure his film through the largely uncomprehending, wondering eyes of 13-year-old Julián, who travels from the arms of his loving pastoral family into the austere, hallowed halls of the seminary. Singling out the boy as his intimate disciple, installing him in his palatial private quarters and redubbing him “Sacramento Santos,” Father Ángel begins Julian’s instruction into the mysteries of “perfect obedience,” whose cardinal rule is: Never question a superior’s actions.

The economy has collapsed. In a universe of moral and economic impoverishment, we find Flavia, a spoiled teenager with artistic aspirations that are somewhat frustrated when she is not accepted at the University. Her neighbor Martin, a mature man with rigid routines, is her antipode. When Flavia meets Martin, there are sparks of friction at all times, and the situation is unlikely to get any better.

As Mexico prepares to host the 1968 Olympics, students and civilians are uniting on the streets to protest the authoritarian government. Tensions are running high and the eyes of the world are on Mexico and President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz. Ana Maria, a student photographer and daughter of a high-ranking official, finds herself embroiled in the movement and is swept off her feet by Félix, a working-class architecture student. This film remembers the events that led to one of the darkest chapters in Mexico’s recent history: the massacre at Tlatelolco, 10 days before the opening of the Olympic Games.

Jose learns that Nora, the woman he was married to for 30 years and from whom divorced, has committed suicide. The rabbi explains Joseph that due to the celebrations this time of the year, if Nora is not buried that same day, they should wait at least 5 days for the funeral. Nora had planned before his death, a Machiavellian plan in order that Joseph was the one who has to take care of his funeral. But Nora forgot a small detail, a mysterious photograph stored under her bed, that will remind Joseph that the greatest love stories, sometimes are hidden in the smallest places.

Martina gets pregnant from her selfish boyfriend. Without knowing exactly what to do, she travels to Berlin to find her own father, the one she never met.

The relationship between beautiful Emilia (Elizabeth Cervantes) and her imaginative young daughter, Alicia, is tested in this understated Mexican drama. Disoriented after moving to a new apartment and left to herself when her mother starts bringing men home, Alicia takes refuge in dreams that soon become nightmares, especially after she begins to fear that her mom has become possessed by the vampirish man next door. With a keen eye for the rhythms and struggles of contemporary Mexican family life, this film illuminates the secret worlds of lonely children while never straying from its true subject: the uncommon love between a single mother and her child.

Maria escapes from prison. On the run, she breaks her ankle. Julian, a truck driver, finds her sitting at the roadside, crying. He picks her up and takes her to a hospital. On her first chance, Maria flees again and goes to a hotel, where she ends up as a prostitute. She frequents bars and saloons, commits some robberies, but neither sex, nor the tequila, can replace love.