Considered the "Godfather of independent Mexican cinema", Ripstein's work is generally characterized by "somber, slow-paced, macabre melodramas tackling existential loneliness", often with a grotesque-like edge.

He developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age due to his family's proximity, and made short films as a teenager.

[5] Many of his films are shot in tawdry interiors, with bleak brown color schemes, and seedy pathetic characters who manage to achieve a hint of pathos and dignity.

Así es la vida, according to Jonathan Crow, "boldly reworks the ancient Greek drama Medea, employing a dizzying array of flashbacks and Brechtian devices".

[6] Deep Crimson, according to the New York Times,[7] is "a ferociously anti-romantic portrait of an obese nurse and a seedy small-time gigolo whose bungling scheme to swindle a succession of lonely women out of their life savings turns into a killing spree."