The title character (Rogello Ramos) is a Mexican laborer who lives on the beans fed him nightly by his grasping wife Regina (Millicent Figueroa). When he loses his job, he decides to go north. Between Macario's visions of a mournful, singing Virgin Mary (Tina Rodriguez) and his sense of doom for having robbed a murdered drug dealer to finance his trip, Macario is caught in a magic realist-Catholic-gothic nightmare that seems destined to end badly. Helmer Veliz provides little reason to believe in anything that's happening -- Macario and Regina are allegedly so poor they sleep on the floor, but if Regina cut back on hair and makeup, they could probably buy meat for dinner. The attempt to marry naturalistic filmmaking to opera -- much of the narrative unrolls in song -- is misguided and unconvincing.

Camera (HD, color), Brian Gonzalez; music, Carlos Sanchez. Reviewed at Sundance Film Festival (Spectrum), Jan. 23, 2006. Spanish dialogue. Running time: 71 MIN.