Nuevo Mexico
2011 · 6m · Estados Unidos , México
Directed by Christian Cavazos
Genres: action, fantasy, musical
Tones: dark, mythic, theatrical
In a desert, a man must pay his debt to the devil for a mistake he made. With no other choice, he carries out what has been ordered of him in a musical narrative.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A desert-set Faustian musical where the protagonist actually *does* the devil's bidding—no redemption arc, no last-minute reprieve, just mythic obligation played completely straight in six minutes. It's the kind of genre-splice that shouldn't work but does, precisely because Cavazos refuses to wink at the premise.
Cavazos locates himself squarely in the tradition of operatic folk narrative and magical realism, executing a formally contained myth with the visual grammar of both Western and religious iconography; the musical framework elevates rather than undermines the material's gravitas.
The decision to lean into the musical numbers as *literal* manifestations of the pact—not comic relief, not ironic distance—is what transforms a premise that could've been kitsch into something genuinely unsettling with minimal resources.