Los bastardos (2008)

Director:

Amat Escalante

Writers:

Amat Escalante (writer)
Martín Escalante (writer)

Release Date:

28 January 2009 (France)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A 24 hour period in the lives of Fausto and Jesus, two undocumented Mexican day-laborers in L.A. Each day another task...

Plot Keywords:

Day Laborer | Vomit Scene | Very Little Dialogue | Blood | Drug

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jesus Moises Rodriguez	...	Jesús
Rubén Sosa	...	Fausto
Nina Zavarin	...	Karen
Kenny Johnston	...	Construction Boss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aron Briggs	...	Racist BBQ kid
Trevor Glen Campbell	...	Trevor
Eric Fettes
Joe Leroy Reynolds	...	John

Also Known As:

The Bastards (Canada: English title) (DVD title) (Europe) (festival title)

Runtime:

France:90 min | Argentina:90 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Mexico | France | USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Mantarraya Producciones

The Bastards... actually not that bad

Brief summary: Two Mexican immigrants do odd jobs for random sleazy Americans, and usually hang around with their fellow Mexicans at a drop-off spot waiting for something new to pop up. It can be anything from construction-working and strawberry-picking to muscle-for-hire goons, just as long as there's enough money in it for them. Meanwhile, an American mother has trouble communicating with her lackadaisical teenage son, and fails to draw his attention in every way. The boy doesn't treat her very well, and leaves the house without even saying goodbye. On that same evening, the four lives will be forever changed, which is the story that this movie tells.

The film is beautifully shot, and also has a fantastic soundtrack (very raw, hardcore music), which goes along perfectly to the style and theme of the plot of the movie. The two leading Mexican actors have apparently never done any movies before this one, but still manage to come across perfectly as these everyday-Mexicans, just trying to get by in a hard world, even if it may require doing things they don't appreciate very much.

Anyway, this movie moves along very slowly, until it abruptly comes to a halt at the ending, which will probably shock most audiences, and may turn off a few people as well. Still, I found it to be a very unique and moving picture, which I would definitely recommend to those that are looking for something untraditional and out of the ordinary.

9/10 - a slow but effective action/drama/thriller, that will haunt the audience for a long time afterward.