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Many movies try to capture real life, but very few succeed. "Sin Nombre," the first feature by Cary Fukunaga, succeeds. Fukunaga, who won the Directing Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, masterfully combines two disparate stories in a way that makes the other more powerful. The result is unforgettable.
Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is making the torturous journey to the Mexico/U.S. border with her relatives. Casper (Edgar Flores) is the Mexican gang member, whose girlfriend was raped and killed by the group’s leader, who saves the young Honduran woman from a similar fate. When she becomes separated from her family, Casper risks everything to help her reach the border.
"Sin Nombre" is not the first movie about illegal immigrants from Central America and it probably won’t be the last. Fukunaga has made a smart move by turning his film into a thriller.
The director obviously has seen many films and learned an important lesson: The best way to portray evil is to put it in an ordinary setting. One of the movie’s more chilling moments takes place in the gang’s clubhouse. Members are hanging out, when the leader walks in with a baby. Despite his menacing appearance, he acts like any dad hanging out with his buddies. Of course, as we soon find out, he’s not just any dad.
"Sin Nombre" is full of scenes like this.
What makes the film so special is its scope. It is essentially the story of two people on different journeys, but it is their story that makes it compelling.
"Sin Nombre" is not going to be everybody’s cup of tea and may slip through the cracks. Here’s hoping the right audience sees this exceptional movie.
Sin Nombre
R
In Spanish with English subtitles
Four reels out of four
At the Ritz East now
Recommended Rental
The Wrestler
R
Available Tuesday
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "There are no second acts in American lives." No disrespect to F. Scott, but Mickey Rourke has just begun one hell of a second act with his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Wrestler" and other high-profile roles in the works.
Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a washed-up 1980s pro wrestling superstar now working as a supermarket bag boy who occasional does small venues to stay in the game. When his doctor tells him to hang it up, he arranges a rematch with his old nemesis, "The Ayatollah" (Ernest Miller).
However, Randy’s biggest challenges are outside the ring as he tries to reconcile with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and begins a romance with a shopworn stripper, played by Marisa Tomei, who received a Best Supporting Actress nod.
