Pretty Good

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Wow, this movie was really great. I came in expecting a fun violent romp (which I received) but it was so much more than that. I really felt for all the characters and they all had wonderful story arcs. Great use of parallel story telling too! A true gem!

Life is tough for a down on his luck Mexican wrestling masked hero. Crime fighting doesn't really pay, so El Monstruo is relegated to thug duty. The conflicted good guy is a complex character, eager to carry on his family tradition (daddy was a famous luchador), but with a baby on the way, he stoops to henchman duties for local crime boss Teddy to pay the bills, usually with uncontrollably violent results.That's plenty for plot, but this film throws in a heaping helping of parallel story lines for a rather convoluted viewing experience. Major events are replayed through different characters, and alternate angles, resulting in some much needed clarity, as everything comes together nicely, and not so nicely in the end.The very seedy side of L.A. is the backdrop here, where illegals are funnelled towards horrific futures as prostitutes, or donors for a lucrative organ harvesting operation, or both. Grisly, old school gore movies are referenced as is some of Tarantino's spicier moments, but "Lowlife" works best on it's own originality: tackling very big global topics with local struggles. "Lowlife" struggles from the usual low budget issues, mainly uneven performances - Teddy is too wooden - but the clever, spiderweb tale, wild sequences, and quirky characters make up for it: here's a newly released convict with a full face Swastika tattoo, who is refreshingly likeable. No, really.

If you watch this and it feels like a comic book, with different parts and different heroes, all telling their own story ... well that was the intention of the filmmakers, so you are not far off with that feeling. It may feel messy because of that at times, but it does work overall in being gritty and down and dirty.There is one scene that got to me (and probably others) more than others in a bad way. But not because of anything the filmmakers, the actors or anyone else did. This was playing at Frightfest, which was just shortly after the Charlottesville "incident" (terrorist attack). So in the movie there is a particular line about Nazis ... and when that sentence was spoken out, I had to cringe ... loud! You wouldn't think this is something that would touch a nerve with people. It was meant as a joke, but also as truth ... but in regards to comments and statements made by a person who should be uniting people instead of dividing them ... Well let's leave it at that.Maybe when you watch it, this won't play a role at all, maybe you'll think at that particular moment back on what happened and how crazy it is ... whatever the case, the movie is absolutely good and should not be judged in a bad light because this other individual who pretend plays to be in charge ...

Back in the 90's every movie wanted to be PULP FICTION, that trend has died down (even Tarantino makes stuff that is beyond his sophomore feature by now) but in this day and age a film like LOWLIFE comes along and becomes a true descendant of that film by taking the madness of the times and using it as its backdrop. Matter of fact, LOWLIFE makes PULP FICTION seem quaint simply by being a product of the current decade.This is a violent crime film with a capital V and it's also delightfully mad, and yet it doesn't seem unrealistic at all; we live in the Trump era, reality packed its bags long ago and now we are left in a bizarre world similar to the one painted in this film. A world filled with vicious ICE agents raiding motels full of illegal immigrants who are in turn harvested for their organs and enslaved in sex dungeons, a world of Legendary Mexican Luchador who have lost their noble way, a world of people in need of health-care who have to turn to organ traffickers for a chance at salvation and a world where reformed Neo-Nazis get triggered when suggesting they are racist and are woke as F.LOWLIFE is also hilarious in the most pitch black of ways. This is comedy that will make you feel guilty for laughing at stuff that would ignite a Twitter war. Its intersecting L.A. crime stories provide a variety of crime tales that make the film an entertaining ride of depravity and violence, not without making social commentary along the way which keeps it from being gratuitous. Each character is provided with so much personality that they could all have their own spin-off, which is the key to these type of fragmented time-line crime films.Director Ryan Prows transcends the Tarantino homage and makes a film that announces his arrival to the film world as a creative force and we should keep an eye on him. He shoots the film with 90's era David Fincher grunge that dips the film into a dark pit of fun nastiness. It's a dirty, depraved affair that will make you want to take a shower, but that dirt won't wash away because this film will stay with you for a long time. It's that good. In the following years movies will try to comment on the Trump era, those movies will try to be LOWLIFE.Review By Enrrico Wood Lagonigro - Senior Curator Oaxaca FilmFest.