By Dana Kendall
After premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Mucho Mucho Amor is now streaming on Netflix. The film explores the life and mystery surrounding the late Walter Mercado, a larger-than-life TV astrologer turned cultural icon who captivated Latinx audiences for decades with his over-the-top flair before disappearing from public life at the peak of his fame.
Directors Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch, like so many other Latinx folks who grew up with the famed personality on their TVs, remember being mesmerized alongside their mothers and grandmothers—knowing they couldn’t dare interrupt—as they waited for Walter to get to their sign. But Mercado offered much more than a simple daily horoscope. With his unwavering optimism, unapologetic gender-noncomforming authenticity, extravagant fashion, and dramatic style, he made viewers feel inspired and empowered, providing an authoritative reassurance that there was always hope for a better day.
What Mercado offered throughout his career—and what Costantini and Tabsch deftly relay in their film—was a message of hope, positivity, and, above all, mucho, mucho amor.
