‘La Máquina’: Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal’s Knockout TV Reunion
La Máquina’s main event is the reunion of longtime collaborators Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, who first collaborated on 2001’s Y tu mamá también. However, an equally compelling draw of this six-episode Spanish-language Hulu series, premiering Oct. 9, is the latter’s gonzo appearance.
Coated in a fake spray tan that makes him resemble a sunburnt racoon, and pumped up with so much self-injected filler that his nose and lips are swollen to bizarre proportions, Luna’s Andy has a visage only a mother could love—and love it she does, given that she too has a decidedly unnatural plastic surgery-reconfigured countenance. Looking like he’s wearing a Halloween mask of his own mug, Andy is a sight to behold, and a fitting face for this story of two men trying to thrive in a sports and underworld environment where nothing is as it seems.
Created by Marco Ramírez and Fernando Coppel, and directed by Gabriel Ripstein, La Máquina is the Mexico-set tale of Andy, a boxing promoter, and his best friend and client Esteban, whose nickname “La Máquina” translates to “The Machine.” Now at the tail end of his illustrious career, the 38-year-old Esteban is introduced fuming over the fact that Saul (Andrés Delgado), Andy’s right-hand man, has failed to find him the soft drink that he always consumes, pre-fight, for good luck. It turns out that he needed that fizzy charm, since he’s subsequently knocked out in the first round by a younger contender, seemingly bringing his celebrated time in the ring to an ignominious end.