Sin Nombre (2009)

A Honduran young girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the American border.

Director:

Cary Joji Fukunaga (as Cary Jôji Fukunaga)

Writer:

Cary Joji Fukunaga

Stars:

Paulina Gaitan, Marco Antonio Aguirre, Leonardo Alonso

14 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marco Antonio Aguirre	...	Big Lips
Leonardo Alonso	...	Policía Judicial
Karla Cecilia Alvarado	...	Marera
Juan Pablo Arias Barrón	...	Niño #3
Rosalba Belén Barrón	...	Niño #2
Felipe Castro	...	Marero (as Sixto Felipe Castro)
Rosalba Quintana Cruz	...	Tierra Blanca Mujer
Marcela Feregrino	...	Kimberly
Kristyan Ferrer	...	El Smiley (as Kristian Ferrer)
Edgar Flores	...	Willy 'El Casper'
Giovani Florido	...	El Sipe (as Giovanni Florido)
Paulina Gaitan	...	Sayra
Ariel Galvan	...	Migrante #1
Diana García	...	Martha Marlene
Gabriela Garibaldi	...	Diana

Storyline

Honduran teenager Sayra reunites with her father, an opportunity for her to potentially realize her dream of a life in the U.S. Moving to Mexico is the first step in a fateful journey of unexpected events.

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Plot Keywords:

attempted rape | mexico guatemala border | border | girl | railway station | 

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Taglines:

The greatest sin of all is risking nothing.

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Mexico USA

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

17 April 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sin Nombre

Filming Locations:

Torreón, Coahuíla, Mexico

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$81,446, 22 March 2009

Gross USA:

$2,536,665

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,101,756

Company Credits

Production Co:

Scion Films, Canana Films, Creando Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The homemade gun, made of pieces of steel pipe, is called a 'chimba'.

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Goofs

Towards the end of the film, the city labeled as "Reynosa, Tamaulipas" is actually "Monterrey, Nuevo Leon."

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Quotes

Sayra: Back home, my friend Clarissa made me see this crazy neighbor, Doña Eleanor, you know, like witchcraft? She smoked this puro, then told me with her freaky voice that I'd make it to the U.S. but not in God's hand, perhaps in the Devil's.

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Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.8 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Déjate Caer
Written by Eduardo Dávalos De Luna, Román Leonardo Rodríguez López, Alan Alejandro Maldonado Támez,
30 M. Cárdenas
Performed by Cartel de Santa
Courtesy of Sony BMG Music Entertainment (México), S.A. de C.V.

User Reviews

One of the best debut features of the year

Directed by the young talent Cary Fukunaga, a winner of the Sundance Film Festival Directing award, the film focuses on a combination of issues in South America, from involvement of kids and teenagers in Mexican gangs to what it takes for those who decide to leave South and Central America and seek greener pastures in the U.S.

The story follows two main characters, Casper and Sayra, played by lesser-known actors Edgar Flores and Paulina Gaitan. While Casper is the member of the feared gang Mara Salvatrucha, his faith connects him with Sayra, a Honduran emigrant that travels with her father and uncle together with the other emigrants on a freight train to the U.S.

On this journey together, as Casper tries to escape his faith and Sayra to meet hers, the main characters are slowly blending together, complete each other through their diversity, while they have to face the rough side of life in today's Mexico.

As a result, the film has a gripping, disturbing, moving sour-sweet blend to it, and is exactly the type of the film where it's unpredictability, natural change of pace, and lots of eye candy in the scenery, makes you part of the story until the credits role, making you beg for more inside.

Fukunaga's film feels so real not only thanks to his time spent in Mexico and his first hand experience with both, emigrants and immigrants he met before and while shooting the film, his cast of actual members of the Mara gang, perfect editing and combination of locations and the effort he took while filming to get the best out of his actors ("apart from beating them", he joked at Vary), makes the film one of the best feature debuts I've ever seen.