Melodrama has long been dismissed as excessive – too emotional, too romantic, too feminine. Yet, in mid-twentieth-century Mexico, the genre became the emotional engine of the country’s cinematic Golden Age.

From Casino to Ocean’s 13. Many famous films have been made about casinos. And for good reason. Cinema and the casino share a multitude of similarities that bind them together in an escapist, unpredictable illusion, a collective, thrilling experience unfolding in the dark corners of the city.