Erase una vez en el Caribe (2023)

Jean Pablo Deliz Dávila 

    Erase una vez en el Caribe (2023) is an ambitious film to behold whose efforts should not be ignored by the general public. It presents a glimpse into a bright future for Puerto Rican cinema, but unfortunately, it falls short. Erase una vez en el Caribe (2023) underwhelms with an overlong runtime, a dull protagonist, unengaging action sequences, and strict adherence to its genre influences. The film may have the best production design and look of any Puerto Rican film I've seen, and yet, it's not a great movie. It's neither good nor bad, instead falling into a middle ground between the two categories.  

Érase una Vez en el Caribe (2023) is a samurai Western epic written and directed by Ray Figueroa and starring Héctor Aníbal as a machete-wielding warrior named Encarnación. He is a peasant in early 20th-century Puerto Rico, living in a modest home by the fields with his wife, Pura (Essined Aponte), and his daughter. Encarnción is a mysterious man with a past who keeps to himself most of the time and works as a farmer. However, his peaceful existence is interrupted by the abduction of Pura at the hands of Escalera (José E. Hernández) and his goons. Armed with a machete, Encarnación goes on a quest to hunt down those responsible and rescue Pura. Modesto Lacen and Roberto Garcia Cooper also star as Mr. Beekman and Junior Walker as the antagonists. 

In the right hands, Érase una Vez en el Caribe (2023) could've been an entertaining epic demonstrating the untapped potential of storytelling in Puerto Rican cinema. It's refreshing to see a Puerto Rican movie that does something bold and isn't another drama or a lousy comedy filling the cinemas. As much as I'd like to praise the film and see Puerto Rican cinema shine through, it's sad to say this movie isn't great. Érase una Vez en el Caribe (2023) disappoints with a lousy script that can't offer a compelling protagonist or well-developed characters. There's a lot of effort put into this movie, and it shows, but its shortcomings outweigh its merits. 

The movie received a lot of hype from media outlets like El Nuevo Día, with Juanma Fernández París praising the film as an evolution of Puerto Rican cinema and declaring it one of the best films of 2023. I can see the immense hype the movie generates, and I understand why people champion this movie. Unfortunately, I cannot share the enthusiasm and sentiment of those who praised this movie. It's the type of film that gets hyped to the point of overly blown praise, only to be forgotten in a few years by the indifferent moviegoing public. 

 Erase una Vez en el Cáribe (2023) is a surprisingly well-made movie in the production design department. The set design, costumes, and cinematography capture the 1930s rural Puerto Rico where the story takes place. The wooden homes, crossed with the mud and dust of the sugar cane fields, combined with the bloody action, kept me immersed in the setting where the characters lived. So far, it's the best-looking production I've seen emerge from the Puerto Rican film industry. But, good production design cannot disguise glaring flaws in the movie. 

The main problem with the movie is the writing, which is brought to you by Ray Figueroa. He has written a variety of documentaries and some films and has a whopping three credits as a director. Two of those credits are thrillers I never knew existed until I looked up his page on IMDb. The other is a drama film that was shown once at my high school, and I never heard from it again. With that said, it's no surprise that Érase una Vez en el Caribe (2023) feels undercooked in its writing. However, I will commend Ray for his efforts since his direction gave the movie its look and style, and there was potential for Erase to have been a great film.

 

The blending of samurai and western genres could've worked with better writing from the director. From the publicity and interviews, Ray Figueroa took inspiration from the films of Akira Kurosawa and the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone. However, rather than forging its own identity, it takes too many clichés of these genres. The silent protagonist, shortened action sequences, and the overabundance of antagonists don't appeal to the modern general moviegoing public. At best, samurai films and spaghetti westerns were products of their time. 

The adherence to the influence of these genres burdens the movie rather than pushing it forward. Encarnación is a black hole of personality with no discernable character traits or charisma. He is overpowered, cutting through swaths of enemies without breaking a sweat or slowing down. He slows down or gets injured only when it's convenient for the plot. It takes away any stakes, tension, or urgency in the action sequences, which aren't terribly done but are short and bereft of excitement. What distinguished action film protagonists like John Wick were the tenacity and will to fight through hordes of gun-wielding goons and take injuries with clear consequences. They were intelligent characters with complex personalities and charisma that the audience could root for to triumph against the bad guys. In the case of Encarnación, he has no personality to let the audience connect with him, giving them little reason or root for him. 

As I mentioned, the movie has too many underdeveloped characters who don't get enough screen time or don't serve much purpose to the plot. Potential threats that could pose a challenge to Encarnación's mission fall like flies before him with little fanfare. It's a shame since the acting is good, and the cast does a great job at their respective roles. One of the actors, Jose Eugenio Hernández, who played one of the villains, did a great job as the conniving thug who kidnaps Pura. Unfortunately, his character is sandwiched between an overabundance of antagonists who don't get much to do in the story. The character who accompanies Encarnación, whose name I struggle to remember, is pointless in the story. He only serves as a glorified babysitter to Encarnación's daughter and does nothing else in the story. 

Érase una Vez en el Caribe (2023) runs at 135 minutes (2 hrs and 15 mins). This length makes the movie feel overlong, with some scenes serving little purpose to the story. The flashback scenes interrupt most of the story, serving as little more than exposition without any impact. Imagine if John Wick (2014) had frequent flashbacks to John's past life instead of letting the characters sell him as a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will. We believed the characters when they expressed how relentless and unstoppable John Wick is, then to be proven right with the action set pieces in subsequent sequels. Erase una vez en el Caribe (2023) would've worked better as a 105 to 110-minute film having a brisk but not too fast pace, fewer antagonists, and a better-developed storyline and characters. 

In conclusion, Erase una vez en el Caribe (2023) is an admirable effort in the evolution of Puerto Rican cinema, but the end result falls short. I can see a bright future for the Puerto Rican film industry, where it's not flooded with dogshit comedies or the 1,155th drama. It's not a horrible film by any means, but it's an ambitious movie with the ingredients to succeed. Who knows, perhaps this could be a launching pad for other directors to take heed and make something better from the heels of Erase una vez en el Caribe.