A la mala Maria Laura “Mala” is an actress with little luck, but she is successful working for other women, seducing their boyfriends to know if they are faithful or not. But everything changes when her dream to perform in her acting career depends on a job to be performed with Santiago who breaks the pattern and shakes her professional convictions. After beautiful struggling actress Mala (Aislinn Derbez) is hired to flirt with- and then dump - a producer's.

Mala Mala is a 2014 Puerto Rican documentary film directed by Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, starring Jason 'April' Carrión, Samantha Close and Ivana Fred.^[2] The film shows several stories of the transgender community in Puerto Rico, including April Carrion, well-known drag queen who participated in the reality show RuPaul's Drag Race. Mala Mala also includes the historic victory of the LGBT community with the approval and signature of Law 238-2014 (in Puerto Rico), which prevents discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.^[3]Mala Mala has been presented in festivals around the world, including London, Ukraine, Los Angeles, Austin, Costa Rica and Mexico. In addition to schools such as The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, University of Pennsylvania, New York University and Harvard University.^[4][5]

Cast[edit]

• Jason Carrión as Himself / as April Carrión
• Samantha Close as Herself
• Ivana Fred as Herself
• Carlos Pascual as Himself / as Queen Bee Ho
• Paxx Moll as Themself
• Alberic Prados as Himself / as Zahara Montiere
• Denise 'Sandy' Rivera as Herself
• Soraya Santiago Solla as Herself
• Sophia Voines as Herself

Critical reception[edit]

Critical reception for Mala Mala has been very positive. Writing for Out, Max McCormack describes that 'Santini's and Sickles's style is as much a piece of modern investigation as it is a nod to films that came before. There are references to Paris is Burning, Pedro Almodóvar features, Valley of the Dolls, and even '90s Nickelodeon stylistic choices. The two men hope to make an impact in driving this notoriously ignored issue forward.'^[2]

In The Huffington Post, Priscilla Frank said that the film 'shows a life in which the line between performance and reality fades away, where fantasy and fact contribute to one's reality. Mala Mala provides a thought-provoking look at where gender identity and cultural identity intersect, while showing that life still revolves around the search for selfhood and the love between friends'.^[6]

Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film after their showcase at the Tribeca Film Festival,

The film examines the myriad personal issues of its interviewees who emerge as articulate spokespeople for their largely marginalized subculture. Sure to be a staple at gay-themed film festivals, the film should garner significant attention upon its commercial release. Its subjects are indeed a fascinating and diverse lot. Interspersed with the insightful interviews are glossily photographed scenes of the subjects clearly relishing playing to the camera, from Alberic sexily splashing about in his bathtub to Samantha bathing nude in a river to Sophia lip-synching a Barbra Streisand song using a dildo for a microphone.^[7]

Diana Clarke wrote for The Village Voice, 'In the Puerto Rican queer and drag communities, 'mala' is used to mean something closer to 'fierce.' How rare and necessary to find a beautifully shot, kind and immersive movie that centers the stories and lives of brown transgender folks. This film does not pander. Rather, it demands that the viewer rise to the occasion.'^[8]

In December 2015 The Advocate published its list of 'The 10 Best LGBT Documentaries of 2015' where Mala Mala figured as a favorite.^[9]

Awards and nominations[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Mala Mala (2015)'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
2. ^ ^ab'Mala Mala: A Puerto Rican Trans Documentary'. Out, April 18, 2014.
3. ^'Documental retrata la comunidad transgénero de Puerto Rico'. Univision, October 15, 2015.
4. ^'Mala Mala' estrena en Puerto Rico'. Metro Puerto Rico, October 1, 2015.
5. ^'El Documental Boricua, Mala Mala, Recibe Ovación En Tribeca Film Fest'. Qiibo, April 22, 2014.
6. ^'MALA MALA Follows Young Transexuals [sic] and Drag Queens in Puerto Rico (WATCH)'. The Huffington Post, April 03, 2012.
7. ^Scheck, Frank (May 6, 2014). 'Mala Mala: Tribeca Review'. The Hollywood Reporter.
8. ^Clarke, Diana (June 30, 2015). 'Essential Doc 'Mala Mala' Examines Transgender Life in Puerto Rico'. The Village Voice.
9. ^'The 10 Best LGBT Documentaries of 2015'. The Advocate, December 24, 2015.
10. ^'GLAAD Media Awards Nominees #glaadawards'. GLAAD. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
11. ^'2016 Cinema Tropical Awards Nominees Latin American Film'. ReMezcla, December 16, 2015.
12. ^'Jauja' Wins Cinema Tropical Awards'. The Hollywood Reporter, January 20, 2016.

External links[edit]

• Mala Mala on IMDb
• Mala Mala at Rotten Tomatoes

Summary:

Review:

A LA MALA is a Mexican romantic comedy about an unemployed actress blackmailed into wooing the ex-boyfriend of a TV producer. It tries too hard to be funny and contains content that requires extreme caution.

In A LA MALA, unemployed actress Maria Medina is hired by her roommate to flirt with her boyfriend and test his loyalty to her. After word gets out, Maria finds herself being hired by scores of women to hit on their boyfriends and confirm whether they’re cheating or not. Tired of living a starving actor’s life and unable to pay her rent, Maria carves out a new career for herself.

An audition comes along for the lead role in a nationally televised show, but the producer, Patricia, is only willing to give Maria the part if she’ll help her with a revenge plot against ex-boyfriend Santiago. Patricia blackmails Maria into wooing Santiago and then agreeing to break up with him so that he’ll experience the same pain Patricia went through when Santiago broke up with her. Though Maria wants to give up her life of hitting on men for money and focus on real acting again, she reluctantly agrees in exchange for a contract with the show.

Maria starts to seduce Santiago into a relationship but unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with him. She realizes he’s falling for her as well and becomes paralyzed by indecision. When her cover is blown, Santiago breaks things off with her. Maria now faces losing her chance at a successful acting career or losing the love of her life.

A LA MALA is in Spanish with English subtitles. Perhaps this is why much of the humor is lost and might have come across better if the viewer were a native speaker of Spanish. Even so, the script tries too hard to inject comedy, ironically making it unfunny. The plot is also quite clichéd, failing to inspire any sympathy for the characters. Some moments are cringe-worthy, too unrealistic to make the viewer fall for them.

Also, the very nature of the plot is immoral. For example, the heroine, Maria, makes lying and hurting another person her chief goal, in exchange for her own material benefit. However, she doesn’t do so without remorse and tries to do the right thing before she’s caught. A LA MALA also has some sexual promiscuity, partial nudity, foul language, and recreational drinking. Extreme caution is therefore advised.

Content:

(PaPa, B, HoHo, FR, LL, SS, NN, A, MM) Strong pagan worldview overall where characters seek material gain at the cost of hurting others and sexual pleasure is sought with no moral consequences, with some moral elements where heroine feels remorse for immoral behavior and eventually did the right thing, but one character is portrayed as homosexual who kisses another man and false religion where man is referred to as a god; at least 15 obscenities plus references to male and female genitalia; no violence; strong sexual content includes implied fornication, a scene of depicted fornication, cohabitation, and two men kiss; partial upper female nudity and men and women shown only in underwear; recreational drinking of wine or tequila but no drunkenness; no smoking or drugs; and, strong miscellaneous immorality includes lying and cheating, blackmail, and revenge.

In Brief:

In the Mexican movie A LA MALA, unemployed actress Maria Medina is hired by her roommate to flirt with her boyfriend and test his loyalty. Word gets out, and scores of women start hiring Maria to hit on their boyfriends. Patricia, a TV producer, offers to give Maria the lead role in a nationally televised program, but only if Maria will help with a revenge plot against Patricia’s ex-boyfriend, Santiago. Maria agrees but unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with Santiago. Maria soon faces losing her chance at a successful career or losing the love of her life.

The script for A LA MALA tries too hard to inject comedy, making the movie unfunny. The plot is also quite clichéd, failing to inspire much sympathy for the characters. The story’s very nature is immoral as Maria makes lying and hurting another person her chief goal, in exchange for material benefit. Tv grundig fb. A LA MALA also has some promiscuity, partial nudity, foul language, and recreational drinking. Though the heroine does the right thing in the end, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for A LA MALA.