Young. Wild. Hungry.
Last year, Jim Mickle’s story of a family of cannibals swept
the festival circuit and horror world alike. Unbeknownst to most, his was but a
reinterpretation of Jorge Michel Grau’s Somos lo que hay. Translated to We
Are What We Are, the film is the story of a group of kids who are
forced to pick up where their father left off when he unexpectedly dies and
leaves them with the responsibility of providing for the family.
Knowing little about the film pre-viewing, I was excited to
see it on OnDemand the other night. While both the original and remake have
been on my radar for some time now, I was excited to get a chance to dig my
toes into the source material before seeing Mickle’s vision of the story.
Title: Somos lo que hay
Director(s): Jorge Michel Brau
Writer(s): Jorge Michel Brau
Producer(s): Nicolás Celis,
Henner Hoffman, Liliana Pardo
Starring: Carmen Beato, Francisco Barreiro, Alan Chavez, Paulina Gaitán
Studio: Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica
Running Time: 90 minutes
Release Date: March 15th, 2010
“When the patriarch of the family passes
away, the teenage children must take responsibility for the family chores: the
preparation of the rituals, the hunting and putting the all-important meat on
the table. These newfound responsibilities are even more daunting, however,
when you live in the city and happen to be a family of cannibals.” – IMDB
There’s something that I find refreshing about cannibalistic horror. I
don’t know why that is, I suppose it’s because there hasn’t been much of that
lately, but I enjoy these kind of films. The primal sort of fear that human
beings are capable of doing something so grotesque and vile, it prickles the
hairs on the back of my neck. We’re not talking zombies here either, but real,
living, breathing human beings who hunt down other people and turn them into
dinner. Part of the reason I love The
Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is because I’m generally a person who enjoys
a clean tidy environment and bright natural light so the exact opposite
intrigues me greatly in a horror flick. This film has that in spades and
environment is everything in a horror film.
Somos lo que hay flown under the radar
since its release in 2010, and even after the release of Mickle’s remake last
year, it has still largely gone unnoticed. That by no means indicates that it’s
a bad film, on the contrary, the few things that I did see about it were all
raving. It is a very well paced fil, well thought out, well articulated and
does exactly what any horror film should set out to do: it catches your
attention and will not let it go. This was director Brau’s first time directing
a full length feature (as well as writing), and I am very impressed. The film
boasts a very dark atmosphere, and through the use of white noise, extreme
close up’s and moments of musical montage Brau has created a haunting film that
encapsulates the fears of this little rag tag family of cannibals. He
successfully transforms a group of murderers into sympathetic anti-heroes, much
like Zombie was able to accomplish with The Devil’s Rejects, and leaves you
conflicted about their position in life. You don’t know whether to sympathize
with Alfredo or be happy for the shit storm of emotional battery he receives
throughout the length of the film. When you do feel for him, you feel like you
should hate yourself for sympathizing with a cannibal. In ways, it reminds me
of the emotions experienced while watching Maniac.
I have to say that I am impressed with how quickly I was
pulled into the story and before I knew it I was completely invested with the
events of the film. As mentioned before, the flick’s got a great pace that
trudges along nicely and the cast helps to sell it with amazing grace. For the
most part you are watching the lives of four people with the focus placed on
the teenaged children. The film takes place within in 24 hours of “movie-time”:
from the events of the first scene until the final scene (with the exception of
the final 30 seconds or so). My personal
opinion is that the weight of the film was carried by Francisco Barrerio
(Alfredo) and Paulina Gaitan (Sabina), however it’s hard to consider outside factors
when you’ve never seen any of the actor’s other works. This film seemed to be a
breakout for everyone involved, from director to actors alike, but that’s
almost what makes it so great. In my opinion they knocked it out of the park on
their first swing.
So with that, I think that Somos lo que hay is
worthy of all the hype that surrounds it and deserves more. The balance
of suspense, terror and (the surprisingly tasteful and underused) style of gore
made it a formidable foe in the horror world and showed us all that Mexico has
every right to be a new place to keep an eye on in the future.
OVERALL RATING: 8/10
- Rg Lovecraft
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