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I may not have grown up knowing about the legend of La Llorona, but I did grow up with a healthy respect for superstitions and things that are beyond human comprehension. We give our children a piece of jewelry or an amulet to wear to ward off the evil eye in a number of Latinx communities, and some of us believe this is beneficial (it can vary from country-to-country, as the evil eye varies from culture-to-culture). My mother bought me a bracelet made of black and red beads, which is what I’m wearing. Even if you’re not a firm believer in curses, it’s better to be safe than sorry in this situation.
When I walked into the South by Southwest premiere of “The Curse of La Llorona,” I was prepared to unearth those long-buried fears. Curanderos were waving sage sticks over the audience as we entered the theater, and we were each given a red pauelo to wear during the performance. A brief statement from the film’s director, Michael Chaves, was followed by the introduction of the main curandero. During the film, he warded off the evil eye by waving a wind chime-like collection of blue and white charms, shook a maraca to drive away bad spirits, said prayers while brushing away bad feelings with several pieces of clothing in one hand, and then instructed the audience on how to wipe away negative energy with a pauelo (a piece of cloth). He warned us not to take the pauelo home with us, or we would run the risk of bringing those evil spirits with us.
I wished “The Curse of La Llorona” had lived up to the hype that had been created. The latest installment in the “The Conjuring” universe suffers from an anemic script that contains far too few scares and a lack of appreciation for the people who will most likely be its core audience, according to the critics. The screenwriters Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis (“Five Feet Apart”) approach horror as if the film will be seen only by people who are unfamiliar with the genre. In addition to being frustratingly simple, the dialogue over-explains everything, and while there are a few solid moments of suspense, there is an inordinate amount of dead air in between them. During the post-film Q&A session, it was revealed that an existing script had been retrofitted to include the creepy doll from “The Conjuring” series, Annabelle, as well as a few other references.
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As a feature film director, Chaves demonstrates that he is a close student of James Wan’s visual style, which includes spooky set pieces that frighten the audience and creative uses of dark interiors and interior space. Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” camera swoop from the perspective of the invading spirit charging through the front door is even included as a nod to this film. However, whether as a result of budget constraints or deliberate artistic choices, his entry into the “Conjuring” series lacks the aged feel of the original, which felt firmly rooted in the horror films of the late ’70s. Despite the fact that this story takes place in 1973 Los Angeles, it does not feel like it belongs in that era, aside from the old school TV dinners, the lack of cell phones, and the old television set.
The Curse Of La Llorona Quiz
Although our demographic tends to gravitate toward horror films, I know that many people are looking forward to “The Curse of La Llorona” because it’s one of the painfully few horror films that is set in a Latin American folk tale and features a Latinx cast, despite the fact that our demographic tends to gravitate toward the genre. Though Anna (Linda Cardellini), the film’s central character, does not identify as Latina, she does so because her late husband worked in law enforcement as a Latino police officer. Despite the fact that her children, Chris (Roman Christou) and Sam (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen), do not speak Spanish, the Garcia family does not appear to have any cultural ties to the country other than the last name of Garcia. In the film, Spanish serves as the language of the other – it is the language spoken by a deranged woman, a folk healer, and a murderous ghost, to name a few characters. The Spanish in “La Llorona” does not provide the same sense of comfort and security as the Spanglish lines in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” when Miles Morales is packing his belongings to leave for school and his mother speaks to him in Spanish while his father speaks in English, as in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Additionally, bilingual viewers might find it irritating when the same line is repeated in both languages. Rather than using subtitles, “The Curse of La Llorona” does not translate the Spanish dialogue, which is a nice treat for Spanish speakers in the audience, but instead reaffirms the otherworldliness of La Llorona and her curandero, Rafael (Raymond Cruz). Non-Spanish speakers will not be confused by the sporadic words and handful of sentences, which are basic (and brief) enough to avoid becoming lost.
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Perhaps the most heinous sin committed by the film is that it isn’t particularly frightening. Even though there are a few amusing moments – such as when La Llorona appears behind an unsuspecting little girl while she is washing her hair and when the ghost attacks children in a Catholic orphanage – the plot is relatively mild, as if one of our traditional dishes had been prepared with insufficient seasoning. Despite the script’s shortcomings, the performances are strong, and the set design for La Llorona is acceptable, but nothing about the film left me feeling like I needed a limpia after watching it. I got a cleansing for nothing because the curanderos were back outside with sage as we were walking out the door on our way out. After she was finished, I inquired as to what she was practicing, and she informed me that she was practicing Santeria, a religion that originated in my parents’ home country of Cuba, not Mexico, the country of La Llorona’s birth. Because of the conflation of practices and beliefs, I began to wonder if part of the reason the Garcia family lacked cultural ties was an attempt to appeal to all Latinos in the United States. However, by losing that cultural specificity, I lost the connection to what makes our ghost stories uniquely “ours.” While it was entertaining to see a big-budget horror film finally play in the fertile ground of Latinx superstitions, I wish we had a more compelling reason to break out the sage and sagebrush.
About the quiz
This review was originally submitted as part of the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.Also, you must try to play this The Curse Of La Llorona quiz.
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