Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a novel set within the moviemaking industry in 1990’s Mexico. We learn that there in a hidden potential in old movies to cast spells onto their viewers via the medium of silver nitrate film. I usually don’t choose books that deal with sorcery and runes yet I had read a short description of this book when it first came out and it seemed interesting enough. However what drew me in was not so much its connection to old moviemaking but the lifelong relationship between its two main characters.
Montserrat is a sound editor in Mexico City and Tristán is her actor friend. There is a chemistry between them, which at times is so strong I wonder why they, after sharing a bed with each other, don’t do something other than just sleep. Tristán is constantly flirting with Montserrat and any other woman would consider him lecherous. That she allows him to share a bed with her shows that she still harbours a crush on him, so his flirtations can’t be considered entirely unwelcome. Moreno-Garcia made the dialogue between them so realistic that I felt I could turn page after page and not need to read anything further about the supernatural underworld of Mexico’s film industry. The author also captured the subtlest of atmospheric observations that on the surface might seem inconsequential but set the mood for a scene.
The pair meet an old film director, Abel Urueta, and are attracted to him. Tristán would like to return to the days when he was a leading man onscreen and Montserrat is a major fan of his work. Abel believes that his last project, a notorious unfinished film that had since gained mythic status, was cursed. He seeks the help of Montserrat and Tristán to complete it. They work on a missing scene and discover the work of a Nazi occultist who still has power over the film industry.
Tristán is haunted by the ghost of his former girlfriend and fearless Montserrat–who loves the horror output of Abel–is given some genuine scares in her attempts to track down the German sorcerer and his disciples from Mexico’s movie past.
I didn’t care for the last few chapters which departed from the grounded real world of Mexico City and opted for a trip through the supernatural with spells, runes and James Bond immunity. Any ordinary person would die instantly from the assaults Tristán and Montserrat suffer. The ending was right out of a romance novel, where–spoiler alert–the two finally acknowledge their love and live happily ever after. It was a soppy way to end a story that had relied so much on the occult, conjuring and runic symbols.