|
We Are What We Are
| Released |
12 November 2010 |
| Director |
Jorge Michel Grau |
Starring
|
Adrián Aguirre, Miriam Balderas, Francisco Barreiro, Alan Chavez, Carmen Beato, Paulina Gaitan, Daniel Gimenez Cacho |
| Writer(s) |
Jorge Michel Grau |
| Producer(s) |
Nicolás Celis |
| Origin |
Mexico |
| Running Time |
90 minutes |
| Genre |
Horror |
| Rating |
16 |
|
|
The family that slays together stays together!
Life can be very hard for people in Mexico City, but it’s even tougher when you’re a family of cannibals. When his father drops dead in a superbly eerie opening sequence, Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro) and his brother, sister and mother are faced with some tough choices. His father was the family provider in more ways than one. With him gone, his sister Sabina (Paulina Gaitan) begins to pressure him to be become the family’s leader and to "get something" for "the ritual".
This "ritual" involves finding some poor victim for the family to kidnap, murder and eat. Sabina doesn’t trust her other brother, the hot-headed, violent Julian (Alan Chavez) and their mother Adriana (Carmen Beato) seems consumed by grief. The family targets the weakest members of society, especially prostitutes and runaway children. When the two brothers make some disastrous attempts at abduction, their actions draw the attention of two lazy, apathetic cops. They’re not acting out of any concern for the public of course, only because of the riches they imagine will come their way if they can break a big case.
This is the type of cynicism that runs through this bleak, grim piece that is anything but a stock horror film. There is humour though, but it’s of the pitch-black variety. It’s not especially gory and the director Jorge Michel Grau is more concerned with slowly building the feeling of dread as the family become more and more desperate. The excellent soundtrack enhances this mood with the house being full of ominous ticking clocks, as their late father was a watch-fixer.
The film has been compared to Let The Right One In as it deals with traditional horror lore but transports it to a realistic environment and looks at the practical difficulties involved in living that way. The performances of the main actors are all excellent. Francisco Barreiro anchors the movie with a performance of constant anxiety and Paulina Gaitan shines as the sly, manipulative Sabina. Carmen Beato is excellent as the half-crazed mother who shows surprising strength when it comes to the crunch. Alan Chavez gives an incendiary performance as the edgy Julian and it makes the actor’s early death all the more tragic. He was shot dead by police in Mexico City last year, aged only eighteen, and the film is dedicated to his memory.
The film won’t be to everyone’s tastes. More traditional Horror fans may find it too slow going but it’s worth seeing for the caustic humour alone. It’s the type of film that you sense will become a cult classic.
- Jim O’Connor |
