Cinepolis, La Capital Del Cine (Cinepolis, the Film Capital)

Cinepolis begins like many films these days: with a Coca Cola advertisement and an exploding field of popcorn kernels. Appropriating from the Cinepolis theater chain the familiar intro sequence of a film-strip rollercoaster ride through a cosmic concession stand, Ximena Cuevas then transports viewers to a dystopian present, where the magic of the movies is turned to sinister ends. Cuevas’s apocalypse involves an alien takeover, but the bigger threat is a media blitz; To suppress public panic, the Mexican state wages a campaign of distraction across radio, film, and television. Splicing together commercials, reality shows, and sci-fi films with snippets of cinema verité, Cuevas simulates a wry saturation of corporate imagery. It is no coincidence that most of this material originates outside of Cuevas’s native Mexico—she has lamented that “Mexico’s mass media is full of borrowed images. That borrowing seems to them very professional, so they feel they can belong to the first world and to use ‘American’ images.” So when Cuevas intercuts her apocalyptic scenario with footage of a woman at a drive-through ordering a “Mexican McBreakfast, Mexican McMuffin, and Mexican McBean,” fantasy and fact prove tricky to discern.