TNL Movie Club- Sin Nombre

[Rumpy]

Available on Netflix Instant Watch



Sin Nombre is a straight forward movie. Starting in Mexico, Casper is living the life of a typical member of a gang. Protecting his gang's turf, teaching new comer Smiley the laws he must abide by and generally towing the line to stay alive in a hostile environment.

Events take place that put Casper in an unwanted position and he makes a choice that forces him to run for the US border to save his life. Chased for weeks, Casper makes friends with Sayra, a girl also headed North to start a new life.

While the story is simple and not exactly new, the perspective and characters sell the movie. It's in the same vein as say, City of God, but not quite as brutal and intense. It's well acted and beautifully shot, I'm sure you'll like it. Warning: Subtitles.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

I think I saw this before.
Doesn't the chicks eyes start to bleed black and everyone around her dies unless the dude uses his power to calm her?

Just kidding. We are having massive snowfall around here, so I expect tomorrow to be dead as hell at work. Will watch this then.

[Rumpy]

She does look like her.

[Frogacuda]

Great pick. I watched this like two weeks ago. It was awesome. Very true to the realities of gangs and illegal immigration. And, being primarily about MS-13s and a Guatemalan trying to make it to New Jersey, it feels relevant to my neighborhood (MS is one of the two main gangs on my street, and the neighborhood is mostly Mexican and Central American illegals).

Also, none of this takes place in South America, it's entirely in Mexico, at first on a border town across the river from Guatemala, and then, of course, traveling north through Mexico.

[Rumpy]

Fixed.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Less than ten minutes in, this movie has already delivered.

[Doc Holliday]

Fantastic pick, Rumpy! This is such an awesome movie on so many levels. If you like adventure* movies, watch it.


EDIT: *usually people think of adventures as pleasant, though this is not so much a pleasant adventure movie.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Great movie.
I hate how movies make me hypocritical.
This ended the only way it should have ended, and I hate how every Hollywood movie goes for the feel good happy ending but at the same time I cared for these characters so much I wanted them to walk off in the sunset together.

[Doc Holliday]

The revenge scene on the train is one of the most iconic images I've seen in a film.

[Rumpy]

Glad you guys are digging it too. It's the only non-mainstream movie I've seen in awhile that really stuck with me. It feels like an honest story without any pandering or brow beating. I found it as a trailer attached to another movie (that I can't remember now), one of the few times a trailer really came through while not giving everything away. Same thing happened for my first TNL Movie pick, Pusher.