Making a dark film is a tough endeavor for any filmmaker as movies that travel to the darkest parts of the human psyche are tough views for most audiences. But, some filmmakers dare to navigate those stormy currents for the sake of their expression and art.

Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein is one such artist. Ripstein, the creator of dozens of films including "Crimson Red," "Hell without Limits" and "Principio y fin" has taken a step into the streets of Mexico in his latest film "Bleak Street," delving into the lives of two prostitutes who are tired of the pointless existence that they have endured to this point.

Ripstein recently spoke to Latin Post about his inspiration for his bitter take on humanity.

Latin Post: Where did the idea for this film come from?

Arturo Ripstein: This story came from the crime section known as "Red Note" in the newspaper. The news came out four years ago and it was a very peculiar one that many commented about briefly. In Mexico, news changes quickly, and when there is a new horrible story, that erases the previous one. There are so many terrible crimes happening in Mexico. So when I read the story, I took it to my wife, my screenwriter. We didn't think it would go anywhere but she liked it and she started to write the story of these peculiar characters. She presented the script and that is where the script came from.

LP: Would you say that this story represents any major issues that are being dealt in Mexico?

AR: No, this film is fiction ... They are fragments of some reality and they are aspects of things I see and that I am interested in. I am not a historian or a sociologist. I can not say it represents or symbolizes Mexico now. It all comes from where I see. As Hitchcock said, "It's not a slice of life, It's a slice of cake." It's a film and nothing more. I want to be modest.

LP: What the challenges of balancing so many characters in a film?

AR: I like to find stories with very particular structures. Art is an important way to understand real life and we have to build a structure to reality. We played with the story of three women and the two twin midgets. The twin midgets are a sole identity. We basically played with the character's emotions and their circumstances. So this film turned out to be a story of destiny and how how it can change a life in an instant.

LP: This film is shot in black and white. Why did you choose this aesthetic?

AR: When I learned to make cinema there was no film school. So I learned watching films and the movies that really determined my love for film were in black and white. So Black and white was always a way to understand life and the way to understand cinema. Black and White gives film a different dimension to film. Color makes it to realistic and black white does not. I don't pretend to represent reality. I just want to show circumstances and a simple object in the massive world. Black and white has an intrinsic beauty that is more profound than color.

LP: The film is shot in one takes. Why did you choose to it this way?

AR: I prefer to do it like this. I like to use the basic elements of cinema and make the camera participant to the story and not be a distant observer. Cuts make the film very distant whereas one takes allow it to breath and are more satisfying for me.

LP: Can you tell me about casting?

AR: Everyone is an actor in this film except for one of the twins because he is a professional wrestler. But he is so versatile so he was able to act. The film was originally written for Patricia Reyes Spindola who is one of the prostitutes. I worked with all of the actress except for Nora Velasquez who is a comic actress. She has done very little film and I saw her comedy sketches and I thought she had so much talent. And then there is Silvia Pasquel who plays the twin's mother. We had worked together in theater but never on film. She became a big TV star and did many soap operas. But I knew she was such a great actress and I thought she could do this role. I always try to get the best actors possible because they are so easy to work with.

LP: What are the biggest challenges of making a film like this?

AR: They are always the same. You have to be prepared and that everything is pre visualized. There were not many issues. The most important thing is finding unity and make sure that the camera and the actors and the dialogues are all one. It's about unifying all the elements so it becomes one and that is the most complex thing. You have to have your actors rehearsed and the cameraman has to be in the best moment.

LP: How many rehearsal days did you have?

AR: We had seven days but they are basically table reads. There is a first one where all the actors are there and you realize what they are capable of. The others are readings to find the correct tone so that we are all making the same film. I always look for the the tone and never focus on the movements since we are not on the locations.

LP: How long did the film take to shoot?

AR: We took almost four and a half weeks. Its very short and brief.

LP: How long was the editing process?

AR: The editing took two days to see the first rough cut. We then fine cut it and that took some time. It's really easy to the edit because there are no cuts. So you just put the entire scene together and if one of the scenes does not work, you have to take it out. The complicated thing is making the most fine cut possible. I think the most complicated was the sound work. It's one of the things I didn't like working on with this film.

LP: What do you hope people take away from this film once it is released in the U.S?

AR: I hope people see it and like it. That it produces some type of emotion. The U.S is a very difficult audience and a very complex culture that sometimes has a hard time recognizing others from the rest of the world. I hope this film, which is bizarre, provokes some emotion and is liked by others.

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