Güeros (2014)
7KGüeros: Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios. With Tenoch Huerta, Sebastián Aguirre, Ilse Salas, Leonardo Ortizgris. Tomas is too much for his lone mother so she sends him to live with his older brother Federico, aka Sombra, in Mexico City.
“First of all, there is a simple question to ask yourself in order to find out if youu0026#39;re likely to enjoy this movie: have you seen and enjoyed films like P.T. Andersonu0026#39;s u0026quot;Inherent Viceu0026quot; and u0026quot;Punch-Drunk Loveu0026quot;; or the Coensu0026#39; u0026quot;A Serious Manu0026quot; and u0026quot;Inside Llewyn Davisu0026quot;; or even that other work in the oddly specific Mexican cinema genre of u0026quot;Mexico Cityu0026#39;s disenchanted youth living in unidades habitacionales (low-income housing complexes, similar to the British council estates or the U.S. projects), going from action to action without much ambition, peppered with existential and black humor and shot in black and whiteu0026quot; that is u0026quot;Temporada de Patosu0026quot; (u0026quot;Duck Seasonu0026quot;)? If so, boy are you gonna love this one!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Güerosu0026quot;u0026#39;s title referring to white people might make one think that this is a politically-charged deconstruction of racism and classism in Mexico, but much like the film makes a point of saying how difficult it is to define who IS a u0026quot;güerou0026quot; in Mexico, it also makes a point of saying how difficult it is to define pretty much ANYTHING in this culture. Politics and society unquestionably play a role in the film, but more as a backdrop (an inescapable one if you happen to live here) than as a main subject. Overall, the film is content in hopping from place to place and short mission to short mission, only offering glimpses of the reality it is set in, in order to make its grandest statement that is about, well… nothing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMuch like most of the films mentioned at the start, u0026quot;Güerosu0026quot; is existentialist at its core, the aimlessness and lack of a point IS the point. Unlike other pointless films however, u0026quot;Güerosu0026quot; is rarely boring. The chemistry between the main characters, the tiny mysteries woven into their world, the gorgeously simplistic imagery, the unexpected twists (including some weird meta references and even an instance of the fourth wall being broken) and, most of all, the amazingly witty dialogue (u0026quot;Güerosu0026quot; is FAR more, and more universally, funny than the vast majority of Mexican films that have the gall to call themselves u0026quot;comediesu0026quot;) make the experience of watching this film more enjoyable and more likely to stay with you than most other films of its kind.”
