The cinematography is by Miguel Garzon and the production designer was Cecilia Montiel, who went on to work on The Mask of Zorro as well as on Cox's Alan Smithee film The Winner.

His wife Griselda (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez), tolerates his relationship with a prostitute, Maribel (Vanessa Bauche), provided it doesn't reflect badly on herself and the money keeps coming in.

Thomas observed that "working in a foreign language has given Cox the necessary freedom and detachment not to worry about being hip and to take the plunge into classic screen storytelling, backed by O’Brien’s superbly structured script.

"[2] Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader concurred that "in some ways it’s [Cox's] best work to date – a beautifully realized tale about the life of a Mexican highway patrolman who’s neither sentimentalized nor treated like a villain.

"[3] He later included it in his year-end top-ten list, observing that "working in a virtuoso long-take style, Cox mixes comedy with tragedy and social critique with straight-ahead action.