306. Cassandro The Exotico; movie review

CASSANDRO THE EXOTICO!
Cert TBA
73 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

Home movies rarely make good viewing - even when their subject is our nearest and dearest. Being invited to watch other people's usually prompts a delve into the Little Book of Big Excuses.
However, both Mrs W and I endured 73 minutes of shaky home movies and webcam conversations of a transgender wrestler.
Cassandro, aka Saúl Armendáriz, spends more time on his mane of hair than on ring craft but, to be fair, he has won a fair few medals for grappling and grunting.
We suspected his life story would have been fascinating had Cassandro The Exotico! not been so badly directed.
Nevertheless, you have to take your hat off to the 50-year-old, he is remarkably fit, especially when one takes into consideration the number of injuries he has sustained in a 26-year career.
He spares no detail in pointing out the many parts of the body which have needed to be rebuilt.
The form of wrestling in which he takes part is known as Lucha Libre, which has gained popularity in Mexico because of its colourful masks, the speed at which the wrestlers dart around the ring and the eye-popping "high-flying" manoeuvres.
Yes, they really do look as if they are diving on to the ring's canvas from high in the auditorium.
Cassandro is the self-proclaimed king of the Exóticos, the transvestite Mexican wrestlers who defy the sport's macho image.
He spends as much time on tousling his hair, applying his mascara and painting his eyelids as he does on his wrestling but has also been a world champion who pushes his body to the limits.
He is quite an interesting subject but both Mrs W and I felt that director Marie Losier had missed a trick by not widening her focus and using better camera gear.
Instead, she relies on very shaky home movie-style footage or even webcams to tell a story which is only centred on the self-consumed subject.
And, let's be frank, he is neither famous nor interesting enough to carry a movie on his own.
So, it is weighed down by repetition - there are only so many times you can see anyone preen their hair or explain their broken bones.

Reasons to watch: A very unusual story
Reasons to avoid: Shaky camera work and repetition

Laughs: A couple of chuckles
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Did you know? Lucha libre is a unique pop-culture phenomenon whose origins date back to 1863 when a Mexican wrestler, Enrique Ugartechea, first developed the art of ‘free-style’ wrestling based on Greco-Roman traditions

The final word. Cassandro: “I love my job because I’m a badass. There have been exóticos or gay people since the 1940s in wrestling, but they were like the clowns of the circus. They were there to make people laugh. And what I’ve done in over 26 years is dignify us … We, sexually diverse people, can really kick some ass.” One37PM

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