Cupid draw back your bow

Cowboy Del Amor combines the two overdone pillars of indie filmmaking – alienation and hillbillies – so it’s no surprise Michele Oyahon’s documentary won the top jury and audience prizes at this year’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The Canadian premiere tonight at the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor St. W.) is this month’s offering in the Doc Soup series. The movie focuses on Ivan Thompson, whose business is hooking up lonelyhearted Gringos with Mexican wives who are presumably smarter in every way except for their habit of becoming weak-kneed when introduced to a drooling American suitor paying for the privilege. The sixtysomething "Cowboy Cupid" himself is an emotional wreck, of course, but his lasso remains trained on the ladies on behalf of fellow hayseeds seeking a soulmate. Competition from firms employing higher-tech promotion than roadside WANT A WIFE? billboards have evidently cut into Thompson’s business: "It’s like when Wal-Mart comes to town," he complains. "It weeds out the mom-and-pop stores." Speaking of which, the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, is screened free at the Bloor on November 15. (RSVP online.)