ILLEGAL INTRIGUE: Sin Nombreby MATTHEW HAYS
and CHRISTOPHER SYKES
Sin Nombre
Focusing equally on the flow of illegals from impoverished Central American countries into the south of Mexico and the territorial gang warfare that the undereducated, destitute youth of the region so often fall into, Sin Nombre is an alarmingly well-researched look into two families: a Honduran family planning to emigrate to New Jersey and the Mara Salvatrucha gang brotherhood of Tapachula, Mexico.
Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is desperate for a life of opportunity and travels with her estranged father and uncle atop a freight train working its way towards northern Mexico. The teenager crosses paths with Casper (Edgar Flores) who himself is on the run from his former gang after exacting vengeance on Mara leader Lil Mago (Tenoch Huerta) following the murder of his girlfriend. The two peers form an unlikely bond while on the northbound pilgrimage.
The couple are chased not only by immigration police but by prepubescent Smiley (a tour de force performance by Kristian Ferrer), who was initiated into the Mara by Casper and must hunt down his friend or face his own banishment from the brotherhood.
Sin Nombre combines aspects of the road movie with the western and Shakespearean tragedy. Beautifully photographed and sublimely acted, there's a good chance this could be this summers little indie that could, thanks at least in part to the star power of executive producers Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna (real-life buddies and stars of Y tu mamá también) putting their own names behind the picture. Winning a couple awards at Sundance doesnt hurt, either. (CS)
All the Days Before Tomorrow
Montreal-born François Dompierre has concocted his first feature, the tenderly titled All the Days Before Tomorrow, which grew out of his studies in the film program at USC. This is a film that comes from a sweet spot: riffing on his own relationship with a close girlfriend, Dompierre is looking back at this poignant romance longingly. The two leads are Joey Kern and Alexandra Holden, and they exchange glances (and a bit more) as they ponder lifes bigger questions. Other questions hang over them: should they be together? Are they great friends or were they meant to be locked in an eternal romantic embrace?
Interspersed in this are various episodes (shot in high-contrast in black and white, something Dompierre must have learned about in film school) in which a surreal mentor talks to Kern about various philosophical questions. Just to add to the sense of surreal, hes played by the original Shaft (Richard Roundtree).
All the Days Before Tomorrow is certainly gorgeous to look at, but it suffers some serious drawbacks. Frankly, the sight of these two sitting around chatting about what seems to be nothing gets really, really dull. And some of their brilliant-icisms dont help, including Sleep is a funny thing, and Holden, while recounting her dream: I was living on this planet where all you could do is eat chocolate and make love. It was pretty cool. Scenes like these simply inspire fantasies of torturing the actorsprobably not the filmmaker's intention.
All the Days is an earnest first effort; sweet and beautiful to look at, but overlong and self-indulgent. (MH)
Fighting
An early favourite for worst movie title of the year, director Dito Montiel's Fighting, his second feature, shines a spotlight on the world of illegal underground fighting in New York City.
Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) is a good ol' boy from the Souththe type who holds doors open for the ladies and is too proud to beg though he's basically living out of a duffle bag. When opportunistic former street fighter turned manager Harvey (Terrence Howard) catches a glimpse of Tatum kicking a little ass after getting ripped off near Carnegie Hall, the self-proclaimed two-bit hustler convinces the kid to start punching for dough.
The story is rife with every possible stereotype and plot transparency. Tatum works his way up the underground ladder by tussling with other hard bodies in the shoddiest alleyways the Bronx has to offer. When he catches the eye of a couple of legit promoters, the real money starts coming inand so does the love interest in the form of the smokin' hot Zulay (Zulay Henao), with whom he becomes involved.
Bling-worthy dialogue like, We're in a $100k Mercedesthats where were going means Fighting is certain to find an audience with lower St-Laurent alpha-male types, and the fight choreography will surely inspire debate amongst MMA fans. That all the ladies (aside from Henao, natch) are presented as dolled-up turbo-skanks who have to be bought to be impressed disappoints, but then again, this was never going to be a film about the greater good. (CS)
ALL FILMS OPEN THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 24
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