MIRAGEMAN

Directed by Erenesto Diaz Espinoza

Review by Roberto Azula

Charming and forgettable, Mirageman’s low budget works in its favor. The best scenes involve the low income, amateur status of Maco aka “Mirageman” (Marko Zaror); he puts together a laughably bad costume, and his quick-change is clumsy and under the circumstances, fairly realistic. Try ripping your clothes off and donning your superhero duds, and see how long it takes you. Another strength of Mirageman is its sharp jabs at TV culture; the Mirageman is nothing if not a product of television, and only through television can something become real. After Mirageman saves TV news star Carol V. (Maria Swett), Maco is inspired to continue his crime fighting not so much for heroism’s sake, but because Mirageman is now becoming a TV celebrity. (Carol V. subsequently becomes a sex symbol).

The very athletic Zaror plays his square jaw hero very well, like a pumped-up Clive Owen. And to its credit, Mirageman looks squarely into the lunacy of becoming a superhero. Maco is clearly a nut-job, regardless of his heroics; he is a bona-fide Clark Kent, utterly unable to deal to his obnoxious boss, an abusive drunk, and Carol V., who is using him to boost her own fame. Despite his good looks, martial arts ability, and bravery, Maco is a complete loser and a man-child, and the film makes no excuses for it. Zaror does a great job portraying Maco’s disturbing mentality, and his natural athleticism makes his slapstick pratfalls almost graceful.

The film, however, completely falters in a weird, rather inappropriate pedophilia subplot. Mirageman at first fails, then later saves the day rescuing a little girl from the clutches of the “Red Pedophile” gang. Hurray for Mirageman! He saves a little girl who was … ah, probably being raped repeatedly? Call me prudish, but I do not see how shoehorning pedophilia in a comedic superhero farce can work in any context.