Sin Nombre
(Friday, Mar. 20, 2009)
Oh, you think it's blasphemous not to push Battlestar Galactica's goodbye finale tonight? We couldn't. Not when this movie — arguably one of the best of 2009 so far — hits theaters today. Trekking across Mexico and over the U.S. border to wishfully gain a "better opportunity" — we know that story. But what this first-time writer-director (Cary Fukunaga, who at Sundance was named Best Director) does is seamlessly weave the gutsy vignettes of three teenagers embarking on a road trip, separately but together, and it's suspenseful, heartbreaking and perfect. Reminiscent of Slumdog Millionaire, these non-actors play (a.) Sayla, a girl whose traveling with her pops to meet all his other children that he fathered in N.J. before getting deported, whose life gets saved by (b.) Casper, who by doing so, kind of kills off a higher-up of the very gang in which he's a member; so now he's getting hunted down by (c.) Smiley, who is grinning ear-to-ear that his former "big brother" bully could very well get got by his very own 12-year-old hands. Trust: It's the kind of movie that leaves you breathless. FYI, the film also picked up Sundance's Best Cinematography honor because the darn thing looks like a damn documentary it's so authentic.YESTERDAY'S DO-IT: Fame meets The HIlls on MTV!
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