Saturday | August 4, 2012 9:30 pm

Illusion Travels by Streetcar
(La ilusión viaja en tranvía)

Screening on Film

Directed by Luis Buñuel.
With Lilia Prado, Carlos Navarro, Fernando Soto.
Mexico, 1954, 35mm, black & white, 90 min.
Spanish with English subtitles.

Set in Mexico City, Illusion Travels by Streetcar tells the tale of two tram repairmen whose favorite car is about to be retired and dismantled. After protesting in vain to the management, the men decide to take the car on a drunken spree around the city for one last run. The two drive all night, picking up an eclectic group of characters along the way and then attempting to return the beloved vehicle to the depot before they are discovered. One of Buñuel’s broadest and most underrated comedies, Illusion Travels by Streetcar is a biting satire of bourgeois values that takes aim at the director’s favorite targets: Church and State.