Saúl Armendáriz (Gael García Bernal) spends his nights fighting as El Topo, a luchador who never is allowed to win given his smaller stature even though he is a skilled fighter and has an affinity for performance.  Tired of always having to take the loss, he begins training with Sabrina (Roberta Colindrez), and though he initially scoffs at her suggestion to begin fighting as an exótico – a luchador who fights without a mask, but instead adopts a drag persona – Saúl eventually enters the ring as Cassandro.  Despite the rampant homophobia present in the wrestling community in the 1980s, Cassandro becomes an international sensation. 

Roger Ross Williams writes and directs Cassandro for Prime Studios, his narrative debut after a career built on documentary and television.  With assistance on the page by David Teague, the highly anticipated biopic premiered at Sundance and later Telluride before making its bow on the streaming service.  At only 117 minutes, the film offers a cursory look into the incredibly performative world of luchador wrestling, specifically Cassandro’s place in it, but it seems to falter a little bit in its own identity oscillating between being a drama, sports movie, and biopic yet not quite hitting the mark fully on any of those fronts. 

Though the film struggles on the page, Bernal lights up the screen with the most infectious smile and joy in every scene.  He has a proven resume working with some of the best directorial talents, amassing a number of incredible roles across his career, but never before has he seemed so naturally at home in the scene.  In portraying Saúl, the role allows Bernal to lean into the strengths of his most iconic performances, many of which are filtered through a queer lens, but also embrace the masculine which is fitting because the exótico is that exact same blend as well.  He shows off a new set of skills when he is in the ring and whipping the crowd into a frenzy, hungry for the fight, but the film, wisely, also does not deny him the chance to lean into the more dramatic elements, too. 

What makes Cassandro an interesting installment into the queer cannon, beyond its ties to the sports drama, is that on a character level, Saúl is unashamed and while the film does flirt with some romantic elements, there is not a fully developed subplot.  It is far from a chaste film, and though it does not hinge on the handful of Saúl’s romantic exploits, the story does not make an effort to hide them, either.  It still gives weight to these relationships – facilitating Gerardo’s (Raúl Castillo) clandestine infidelity as a homosexual man as well as the not-so-secret drug-fueled flings with Felipe (Bad Bunny), the arm candy of Cassandro’s main promotor – but at its core, Cassandro is not a romance nor is it a coming out film; Saúl is not shy or afraid to present as he does. There is a poignant moment around the halfway mark when he talks to Sabrina about how he came out to his father when he was a teenager and was subsequently abandoned by him leaving the boy to be raised by his mother, Yocasta (Perla De La Rosa), but this is presented as fact and while the absence of his father is a shadow that looms heavy over Saúl’s life, he does not back down from embracing who he is.  For much of the runtime, Saúl is confident and thriving in a way not often seen in films of this genre.  It is an empowering take on a queer story that could easily be dragged down in melodrama but instead is lifted up high in support and praise of the performer. 

Cassandro shines most, though, when it is in the ring.  Across its runtime, the film spends a considerable amount of time in the ring during the fights, and Matias Penachino is not afraid to get in close to the action or observe from a distance.  The sequences move quickly enough to stay exciting, but long enough that we get to see Cassandro spar and taunt his opponent, and as their tensions boil in the ring, we also see the ravenous and riled crowd thirsty for blood.  It is a shame, however, that the film does not allow us to peak behind the curtain so much to see these wrestlers planning out the fights.  The script does not hide the choreographed nature of the sport, but it does not allow us to see the wrestlers talking much about it either.  Knowing the layout ahead of time would take some of the wind out of the sails for audiences at home, but with some additional editing in the montages, this could have added a bit more needed substance to the film. 

Lastly, and unfortunately, where Cassandro stumbles most, is its performance as a biopic.  The film offers very little introspection into Saúl; we know some basic facts, but it hardly captures even a single snapshot of his life.  Possibly, because this is Williams’ second project centered on the fighter – the first being a documentary, The Man Without a Mask (2016) – there is a level of assumed knowledge that audiences are bringing to the film as they fire it up on Prime, but the film as presented still feels like a surface level examination that fans of lucha or of Cassandro will not glean anything new or particularly meaningful from having watched it.  There is surprisingly little conflict involved in the arcs presented and time moves incredibly quickly as Cassandro’s rise to fame is portrayed as something that happened practically immediately following his debut.  A few jeers from the crowd are all that stood in his way from stardom, and while the film did not need to soil itself in the ugly violence of homophobia, especially given the vitriol that was present in the 1980s of which the film is set, everything seemed a little too easy and achieved without struggle. 

It is shaping up to be a big year for fighting films: Creed III, Punch, and Big George Foreman have already landed with Magazine Dreams and The Iron Claw waiting in the wings.  Cassandro offers a unique look into the sport but fails to leave its mark.  That being said, the film is still well constructed despite its loose scripting, and even without much to work with, there is no denying the allure of seeing Bernal on screen.  While people may not remember the film specifically, this is a role that will keep with the actor and rightfully finds its way onto highlight reels as one of his finest performances in an incredibly storied and robust career that we hope will continue on for many, many more years to come.