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So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Movie Review - Sin Nombre (2009)

Starring Édgar Flores and Paulina Gaitan
Directed by Cary Fukunaga

I feel like I've seen this movie before. In fact, I saw a very similar movie (in style only) called Trade starring the young actress Paulina Gaitan who also starred in this. This was a short movie (90 minutes) and it didn't feel long, but I couldn't really get interested in it enough to really like it or recommend it highly.

At the start of film, we see two storylines -- one involving young gang member Willy who seems to be struggling slightly with his gang leader and is soon pushed to the edge by a horrific act. The second story is about a dad, his daughter Sayra, and his brother. They decide to try and illegally enter the United States and hop on a train to get to the US border. These two stories will eventually intertwine and Sayra and Willy will meet. Willy saves her from an awful situation and young Sayra seems to fall in love (or, at the very least, grow intensely fascinated) with Willy. Good things can't come of that as Willy is being hunted down by his own gang for a crime he committed.

The unfortunate thing is that there was very little tension in this film. It's unfortunate because this is a character-driven flick and there's some fairly good acting on display here. Édgar Flores' Willy started out a little weak and by-the-book for me, but his character was eventually fleshed out a tad and it became better as the movie progressed. The star was Paulina Gaitan's Sayra. Yes, her character was flawed (her love/fascination for Willy, while warranted, seemed to come on much too quickly and her actions at the end of the flick were just silly), but the young actress was certainly impressive. I remember liking her a lot in Trade as well, so she is definitely a young gal to watch.

The RyMickey Rating: C

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