Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
In the near future, a popular uprising in Mexico City interrupts a wedding held at the home of a wealthy family. After the riots have been quashed, they discover the bride has gone missing and plea with the military to help locate her.
Michel Franco's New Order is a viscerally filmed dystopian thriller with exceptional cinematography — cold, clinical framing that amplifies its brutal social commentary on class inequality in Mexico. The plot is provocative and unflinching but deliberately schematic, using characters more as symbols than fully developed people, which limits emotional investment. Acting is competent but constrained by the script's allegorical nature. The ending is deliberately bleak and nihilistic to the point of feeling punishing rather than resonant, leaving audiences cold rather than disturbed in a meaningful way. The film's voice is distinctive but its social commentary feels somewhat heavy-handed compared to Franco's best work.