A 5-minute Mexican fever dream where death queues up like it's Black Friday.
A tragicomic short film imbued with magical realism that revolves around the theme of death, focusing specifically on the Mexican people's bond with the departed.
Writing
Arriaga's trademark nonlinear poetry crammed into five minutes.
Production
Dreamlike Mexico City atmosphere on micro-budget.
Director
Guillermo Arriaga
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Arriaga's directorial debut before becoming Hollywood's go-to nonlinear storyteller (Babel, 21 Grams). The short format let him experiment with death as bureaucratic inconvenience.
The film subverts Día de los Muertos reverence by showing death as annoying paperwork — a uniquely Mexican dark humor about mortality that predates Coco by 17 years.
MX
