The last time I spoke of Luis Miguel was for a review of the Luis Miguel movie Fiebre De Amor starring Luis Miguel as Luis Miguel. Around that time I was waiting for the day I would acquire a copy of Luis Miguel’s first movie Ya Nunca Mas ("Never Again") and several months later it was in my possession by chance. I was quite lucky too considering the movie is pretty hard to acquire both on tape & DVD. From a simple eBay search, a sealed DVD that contains both Fiebre De Amor and Ya Nunca Mas sold for $82 plus shipping. A high price for sure, but that’s how you know when certain movies are very on demand & will sell big because of it. People just really want to watch El Sol De Mexico in his first full-length feature!
In Ya Nunca Mas, Luis Miguel plays an ordinary young boy named Luis who’s very active, mischievous & outgoing. He loves to play sports, pranks on his teachers alongside his classmates and of course he loves to sing. Luis’ life begins to change when his widowed father (Gonzalo Vega) begins to date a woman that Luis sees as someone that is trying to replace his mother, thus causing a friction. Suddenly, Luis’ life takes a turn to the tragic when he gets into a motorcycle accident. The crash has caused his leg to be broken and it turns out that his leg has a tumor inside it and the only way to rid of it from spreading is to remove the entire leg. Once his leg is removed, Luis feels his life is over. Luis feels like he can no longer do anything as he could before and this causes much pain for him and his father.
There’s an episode of the Luis Miguel Netflix series where they’re filming Ya Nunca Mas and apparently his demented father Luisito Rey was drugging his son so he can stay fully awake & energized. Through out the episode, Luis Miguel is overly-exhausted looking from shooting the movie & performing live shows on the same days which leads to him fainting while on set of the movie. I tried to find a reliable source if that ever really happened, but came across nada. Either way, Luis Miguel whom had never acted prior to this & apparently overly-working while filming/performing; managed to be really good in Ya Nunca Mas. I was legit impressed by him and his yelling forever haunting me during stressful moments in life. The whole movie in general though is very good. From its story to its settings & its message is really pleasing. Director Abel Salazar definitely knocked it out of the park with Ya Nunca Mas!
I found it so intriguing that legendary actor Abel Salazar had directed this movie. Now he had directed other movies prior, but this was something so different & really huge for him during this time. After all, he was directing a movie starring El Sol De Mexico! And to make the movie more intriguing (or perhaps even odd) was Abel Salazar’s own daughter Rosa Salazar Arenas stars as the leading lady of the movie. It’s so eerie watching her though because she looks just like her father! She’s also honestly not a very good actress either, but she tried at least.
The music in Ya Nunca Mas is super cheesy, but expected to be of course and it’s all sung by Luis Miguel because this is a Luis Miguel movie after all (well, duh!). The title of the movie derives from the ballad “Ya Nunca Mas” and it’s such an overly-dramatic song that definitely is about a life-altering experience. Not a romantic ballad as some have lead to believe (I don’t know why they think so either). “La Juventud” is another song in the movie and it’s so upbeat and sounds like it’s from a McDonald’s commercial or a spanish-dubbed anime opening theme. Now the most memorable song of Ya Nunca Mas is “Mama, Mama” where Luis sings about missing his late mother while wearing giant 80’s headphones & a tiny microphone in his hands. It’s a sappy song for sure and it seems to be a hard to come by song as well since it’s not available for streaming. Despite that, it’s the song that many fans of the movie really like and are willing to acquire the soundtrack at whatever price! It's also worth noting that the movie's soundtrack was Luis Miguel's first gold record ever.
Now my guilty pleasure is liking the song “Juego De Amigos” which is featured in a scene with Luis wearing a Jordache sweatshirt and dancing/singing around with his friends & maid (yes, even the maid). It’s such a truly uplifting and cornball as fuck scene, but in the most charming way. I find myself going to work playing that song sometimes. It’s a mood uplifter. Do drugs to feel more uplifting? Fuck that. Play “Juego De Amigos” and you’ll be fine & dandy! (For 4 hours).
I honestly wish Ya Nunca Mas was readily available to watch because its truly a must see. Yes the movie is very corny and Luis Miguel is very vain even as a young boy, but he is a very intriguing individual and you kinda have to admire the guy for all the hard work he’s put into his career and all the shit he went through all his life. Kudos Luis Miguel. Break a leg! (horrible/dark pun intended).
