REVIEW: ‘Pedro Páramo’ Drags On For Far Too Long

Pedro Páramo, directed by Rodrigo Prieto (director of photography on Barbie) and written by Juan Rulfo and Mateo Gil, follows Juan Preciado (Tenoch Huerta, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) as he returns to his mother’s hometown to fulfill her lifelong wish. But rather than finding a bustling farming center, he finds a ghost town. Seemingly trapped in its chilling embrace, he stumbles through its streets, learning the town’s history and how it came to ruin.

One of the worst thoughts a film can leave a viewer with is, “What was the point?” While stories don’t need to spell out the key takeaways from their narrative, the viewer should walk away feeling like there was one. Perhaps the point they derive from the events and characters is not what the creatives intend, but it is still there. When a film fails to impart this critical storytelling element, it leaves the viewer feeling let down. This is a problem for Pedro Páramo.

Throughout its two-and-a-quarter-hour runtime, this film explores the lives of the now-dead city’s former inhabitants. The film’s opening stretch uses Juan’s viewpoint to introduce the early elements of the story. As he runs into different ghosts that haunt the ruins, he is met with information and unsettling experiences. As the film gets to the heart of its narrative, the present day fades away to the point where viewers will likely be surprised when it briefly pops back up to explain what happens to Juan.

This shift in focus makes the narrative feel disjointed. Juan ultimately has no purpose in the plot, and the ghosts within his side of the story feel like a strange choice once the narrative settles into the past’s events. The horror tone of the opening is never picked back up, making it almost feel like they attached a different movie to the beginning of this one.

As the core story of Pedro Páramo unfolds, we get little snippets of life in this city, with the titular character, played by Manuel Garcia-Ruffo (A Man Called Otto), standing at the center of most of the sequences. As each story plays out, an image of who Pedro and those around him are comes into focus, but to little end. It never feels like the narrative strands come together to form a cohesive plot.

There isn’t even a core theme that drives these separate experiences. They are just moments that happen. The only thing that comes close to being a theme between them is that things always seem to get worse. But even this doesn’t feel tangible enough to create a unified plot.

Pedro Páramo is also hard to watch because all the characters are dry. Little emotion is present in the majority of the scenes. People deliver dry dialogue that is responded to in an equally dry way. Only when a tragedy strikes can the cast project feeling into the dialogue. While this helps make these emotional moments stand out more, the approach does far more harm than good. This doesn’t feel like a failure on the cast’s part, but the intended direction. It just doesn’t work.

Also holding back the narrative is a lack of clarity. When things are happening in the story is often muddled. While the early and late elements are easily identified, there are times when the story feels like it is being told out of order, though there is no time indicator to confirm this.

While this film has a lot to dislike, there are a few strengths. The cinematography is well done, and the lighting creates moments that help strike visual elements that work. While the opening horror sequences feel out of place overall, their execution is solid. A couple of choices with how these specters are delivered bring surprising moments that are handled well visually. I also enjoyed the costuming and presentation of old-time Mexico. While I can’t speak to its overall accuracy, the look and feel of the film’s world is always consistent and strong.

Pedro Páramo ultimately fails to engage its audience. With an overly long runtime, characters that struggle to draw the audience in, and total absence of a strong plot, the film offers little to recommend it.

Pedro Páramo is streaming now on Netflix.