Vuelven
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Siempre vuelven
Mexico 2017
produced by Marco Polo Constandse, Francisco González Compeán (executive), Issa López (executive), Carlos Taibo (executive) for Filmadora Nacional, Peligrosa
directed by Issa López
starring Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Hanssel Casillas, Rodrigo Cortes, Ianis Guerrero, Tenoch Huerta
written by Issa López, music by Vince Pope, special effects by Flipbook Studio
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Estrella's (Paola Lara) only ten and still young enough to believe in
fairy tales when her mother's kidnapped (and possibly murdered) by a drug
cartel, and suddenly she's left to fend for herself. So she joins the gang
of Shine (Juan Ramón López), a boy about her age who might have lived
through even worse. But Shine asks her to kill Caco (Ianis Guerrero) to be
in his gang - and since Caco's an all grown up gangster with a history in
violence, in theory he's totally out of Estrella's league ... but as
mentioned, she believes in fairy tales and especially the ones about
"three wishes" - so eventually he's dead without her doing. Thing
is, Caco's dead only makes things worse for Estrella, Shine and the gang
since now Chino (Tenoch Huerta), the local big boss, and his gang are
after them - and unsurprisingly they're not very scared of a bunch of
pre-teens in an abandoned mansion ... Now I won't deny for a
second, in writing, the story of Tigers Are Not Afraid sounds
disappointingly mecdiocre to heavy-handed - but writer/director Issa
López really gets more out of the story than anyone could have suspected
being in it even, turning the pulpy plot into a weird fairy tale that
perfectly marries the realism essential to its basic plot to pictures full
of magic, appropriately naive since they're supposed to originate from its
pre-teen protagonists, but executed in such a way they really work in a
cinematic context. And the outcome is a world all of its own that's
nothing short of breathtaking. Totally recommended, actually!
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