You can now watch my latest film EL GANZO on Amazon Prime.
Filmed entirely in Mexico, EL GANZO tells the story of a brief and intense companionship between two travelers: a struggling artist on the verge of a break-through (Anslem Richardson) and a mysterious woman with a hidden and unknown past (Susan Traylor).
The limited theatrical release was a success, and here’s what the critics had to say.
“Dreamy”
– LA Times
“a highly substantial and satisfying meditation
on need and survival”
– Huffington Post
(full article)
“A great film… meticulously crafted with gentleness and love..”
– Media Detour
“Hits especially close to home”
– Harper’s Bazaar
“Steve’s direction of the film is immaculate… Magical… Watching Traylor and Richardson is a master class in screen acting. This is a wistful film… It’s about what has been, what could have been and what might be, as well as what is. And really, aren’t all our lives a bit like that? But it takes an artist of Steve Balderson’s calibre to make us think wistfully about our own lives like this, and for each of us to find out
that bit more about who we are.”
– M.J. Simpson, UK
“Balderson is more concerned with the journey rather than the destination, putting the focus on redemption and leaving the past exactly where it belongs. It is a rare thing for a film to blend story and location so seamlessly to where they become one thing, and Traylor and Richardson soon become part of the landscape along with all the images of sand and surf. In a very real way, the players in Balderson’s film are on equal footing with the location itself.”
– Athens Banner-Herald
“Simple, yet intimate… beautiful, dream-like photography and sound… pensively romantic… poignantly stark.”
– The British Black List
The film is also of historical significance. Merely weeks after filming wrapped, Hurricane Odile struck Los Cabos and destroyed Hotel El Ganzo and nearly everything appearing in the film. The spirit of the place, and its people, and the magic captured in EL GANZO, no longer exists on Earth in the same way.