The Last Call (1996) Poster

(1996)

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10/10
If you see this video available, pick it up quickly!
FafaSays16 November 2001
In Mexico City, Gilberto Cortés (actor Alberto Estrella) is a single father who has a close, loving relationship with his young son Mario. (Actor Imanol plays young Mario. Later, Abraham Ramos plays Mario as a young adult).

Mario is an adorable little boy - normal, cute, smart and happy. Gilberto works as an actor and is involved in a play called, "Bandera Negra" (The Black Flag), about a father who fights to save his son from a death penalty.

As time goes by, Gilberto becomes a successful performer, especially in the play "Bandera Negra." Everything is fine till one day his son is molested by an acquaintance of Gilberto. All the light goes out of little Mario and he is not the same for some time. Soon, life seemingly returns for the father and son.

A few years later, Mario is a grown up and leaves home for college in Texas. Not long after, an event takes place, which puts him on death row. Mario is scheduled to die by lethal injection. In an example of life imitating art, like the play ("Bandera Negra") that Gilberto successfully performed in, he now has to fight for his son's life.

Carlos García Agraz directs this touching story. It is told with ease as the film starts with the present, and then reverts to the past, and then back to the present to allow the viewer to find out what happened. The music has a haunting melody and fits the story well.

Actor Alberto Estrella work is very impressive, as are actors Imanol and Abraham Ramos. The strong father - son bond, is very convincing. Their personalities come through the screen.

If you see this video available, pick it up quickly!
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10/10
The best Mexican film since 1995
gonz307 May 1999
LA ULTIMA LLAMADA is "the last call" for an actor, onstage as well as off. In the best male performance in any Mexican film I have seen, Alberto Estrella plays a character faced with existentialist issues, destiny, manipulation, and the death penalty. This acclaimed drama switches between the actor and the human being struggling with the same issues intermittently, to great effect, and leading to a terrifying climax. Don't miss it.
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Touching Denounce
treada7318 March 2009
in times with very short production in the Mexican Industry, and obviously absence of good actors someone could appreciate this Garcia Agraz this film, Alberto Estrella ,a very well prepared actor, carry the weight of the film and do it outstanding, performing a father who confront his tremendous fate of having a condemned son who killed an American guy when he saw him raping a boy as the same way he lived victim of another American guy, and make his father suffer the same situation of his character he perform as an actor in the monologue Bandera Negra of Horacio Ruiz de la Fuente,sounds too many coincidences for a movie who pretend to be serious in the called new Mexican cinema, however someone could see this movie as a denounce for the several Executions in Texas in times of George W.Bush as Governor
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