Feeling lonely? Giving up hope on American women? Wondering where to look next? Fear not. The "Cowboy Cupid" has you covered.
In the documentary "Cowboy del Amor," Ivan Thompson runs a business in which he matches American men with Mexican women. Some of the men he deals with have never been married before while others who have gone through three or four marriages. Either way, all of them think that a Mexican woman will solve their matrimonial problems. These women aren't saps looking for a quick fix. They're doctors, lawyers, secretaries, and schoolteachers - all intelligent enough to know what they are getting into.
"Cowboy del Amor" fits within the exploding documentary genre that covers a wide range of distinct topics, such as "Spellbound," "Grizzly Man," and "Capturing the Friedmans." These recent titles are just as engaging as most Hollywood releases.
Director Michele Ohayon casts Ivan Thompson in a neutral light, having very little involvement unlike documentary filmmakers Werner Herzog and Errol Morris. The pacing of the film is slow, more traditional in its efforts to document reality, which suits Thompson's slow, depressing lifestyle.
Thompson feels he is the "foremost expert at putting American men with Mexican women." Having been in the business for 16 years, he must be doing something right. He charges men $3,000 and takes them over the border to start the search from scratch, running ads in papers and waiting for the phone to ring.
One of the bride-seekers is Rick, a truck driver interested in finding a thin, intelligent woman, no more than 130 pounds, without children. Within five days and after a dozen interviews he meets a Mexican woman who becomes his bride and in time, the mother of their child.
James, a used-car dealer, has been married three times. However, his creepy mustache and overabundance of jewelry is enough to stave off the potential brides.
Thompson had a Mexican bride himself, but divorced her a year after their marriage, then remarried her, and divorced her a second time when she wanted to learn English and get a job outside of the home. He felt that she had become too "Americanized." But Thompson has yet to give up on love.
Even though he is, well, old, Thompson feels he can attract any Mexican woman he wants whenever he chooses to remarry. Thompson is full of self-confidence, a real Don Juan, which compensates for his unappealing burnt-out cowboy look. He thinks women belong in the kitchen and that the language barrier is another convenience that helps keep them in their place.
The film subjects the audience to a humorous account of Thompson's trafficking, but upon reflection, it is a distorted view of a man's life that profits off the misfortune of others. For a film about such serious subject matter, Ohayon does not have Thompson talk about his views. She chooses to depict his actions but does not allow him to justify himself.
She does a good job bringing an unknown issue into the public consciousness, because Mexico is known more as the destination for outsourced factories, not trans-cultural marriage.
She tended to document Thompson more than his actions, which proved entertaining, but could have concentrated on the ramifications of what he did for a living. Ohayon should have gone beyond the machismo surface of Thompson. She provides a shallow look into a man whose complexities are left uninvestigated.
The movie may be slow at times, but Thompson moves slowly himself. For a cold Sunday afternoon, watching this movie might be a good idea, if only to see tumbleweed blow around instead of snow. "Cowboy del Amor" is now playing at the Market Arcade Theater.
