Looking back

Vidocq (on a double-bill with The Big Lebowski) and Alborada (the current telenovela on Univision) are both set in the nineteenth century and rely heavily on it for visual interest. The style of Vidocq is lurid, like a giant sideshow banner combined with a comic-book. All locations seem to be computer-generated. The actors are heavily painted and meant to be noticed as being so, almost like artificial figures come to life. We were seeing Vidocq on a 13-inch television screen; all effects must be much more pronounced when seen in the proper size. There is a background of political unrest, as there is in Alborada, which is set during the time of the viceroys but when there are already stirrings of unrest. It's plain that Alborada uses at least a couple of constructed outdoor sets and several interiors, but it also films many, many historic structures and employs extras, horses, domestic livestock, and horse- and oxen-drawn conveyances in profusion. The locations are all in Michoacan if one's to judge by the thanks given in the credits that roll for each episode.