“Bleak” a dreamy depiction of the Mexico City netherworld

Ripstein has long been one of the prime movers of Mexican cinema, but with a few exceptions, most U.S. screenings of his movies have probably been at film festivals.

“Bleak Street,” which is strikingly filmed in black and white, is set in a grim quarter of Mexico City that’s a haven for hookers, small-time criminals and hustlers.

The plot sounds like a tabloid fabrication but is based on a real incident in 2009 in which two midget wrestlers were killed by a pair of middle-aged prostitutes.

The grapplers (played by Juan Francisco Longoria and Guillermo López) are twin brothers who never remove the masks they work in, whether at home with their families, or visiting their drunken, slatternly mother to receive her blessing on the day of a match.

The women are hired by the wrestlers for a post-fight celebration, and come up with a plan to drug the men (using prescription eye drops — who knew?) and rob them.

[...] they fail to account for the men’s diminished stature, and inadvertently give them a lethal dose.

Two of Ripstein’s best-known earlier films are worth seeking out.

Deep Crimson” is Ripstein’s 1996 version of the real-life story of the two American “lonely hearts” murderers of the 1940s who inspired the cult movie “The Honeymoon Killers.