Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
After being deported back to Mexico, a man has no choice but to join the vicious drug cartel that has corrupted his hometown in order to survive.
Luis Estrada's scathing dark comedy is a singular piece of Mexican cinema — a picaresque descent into narco culture that blends biting political satire with genuine tragedy and absurdist black humor. Diego Luna's performance anchors the film with surprising depth and range, making Benny's moral deterioration both funny and heartbreaking. The ending is memorably bleak and thematically powerful, refusing easy catharsis. The novelty is high because the film occupies a truly distinctive tonal space — irreverent yet devastating, comedic yet authentic — that few narco films have attempted. The plot, while engaging, follows a somewhat episodic rise-and-fall structure familiar to the crime genre, preventing a top score there. Cinematography is competent and energetic but not especially distinguished visually.