Round Up: Surveying “Sin Nombre”

Both at Sundance and now as it reaches its March 20th release through Focus Features, “Sin Nombre” has certainly found acclaim.

Salon‘s Andrew O’Hehir introduces his interview with Fukunaga by noting: “Tempting as it may be to dislike Fukunaga for his meteoric rise, if you see “Sin Nombre” you’ll be convinced. Impressively shot in a series of dire Mexican locations, “Sin Nombre” is simultaneously a grueling, gripping road thriller, a wrenching emotional journey and an amazing evocation of a world few norteamericanos will ever see. There was nothing else at Sundance this year that grabbed audiences by the throat and didn’t let them go—if they could ride through the harrowing violence of the first few minutes, that is. There have been precious few combinations of low-budget indie naturalism and plot-driven genre film, and I can’t think of any that are anywhere near this successful.”

Variety‘s Todd McCarthy seconds that motion. “A big new talent arrives on the scene with ‘Sin Nombre,’” he writes. “Writer-director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s enthralling feature debut takes viewers into a shadow world inhabited by many but noticed by very few—that of Central American migrants making the perilous trip through Mexico to get to the United States border. Shot on extraordinary locations with a capable unknown cast, this Focus Features release will stir considerable interest for its artistic and social aspects and has dual commercial potential in art/specialized release and in the Spanish-language market.”

Both The New York Post‘s Lou Lumenick and The Wall Street Journal‘s Joe Morgenstern write similarly gushing reviews. “Forget those weepie liberal cliches,” writes Lumenick. “This starless and vividly authentic romantic thriller set in Central America really rocks, and is one of the most exciting directorial debuts in years.” While Morgenstern writes: “Mr. Fukanaga’s purpose is to evoke the immigrants’ experience, which he does with such eloquence and power as to inspire awe.”

A group of other reviewers - though all appreciative of the film’s craftsmanship - are considerably more mixed overall.

The AV Club‘s Scott Tobias writes: “Earlier this year, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s debut feature Sin Nombre collected awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival. It was also developed in the Sundance lab. Both these facts help explain what’s exciting and disappointing about it.” Tobias heralds the film’s “gorgeous widescreen panoramas,” but calls the script “sadly endemic of the earnest, conventional, issue-oriented mediocrities produced and rewarded by Sundance nearly every year. No cliché goes unturned.”

Scott Foundas speaks similarly - though a bit more harshly - in The Village Voice: “Lushly photographed and meticulously sound-designed, Sin Nombre is visceral without being vital, researched without ever seeming lived-in. The best that can be said is that it’s a more honest film on the subject of immigration than the recent Crossing Over—but then again, so is Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”

While still giving it an somewhat mixed review, The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis is considerably more admiring: “What keeps the movie from tipping into full-blown exploitation like ‘City of God,’” she writes, “which turns third-world misery into art-house thrills, is Mr. Fukunaga’s sincerity. What keeps you watching is his superb eye. Working with his cinematographer, Adriano Goldman, he fills in the cracks of his story with moments of beauty — children tossing oranges up to the train, Casper sleeping under a canopy of trees — that make you want to see what comes next.”

On March 26th at 7pm, join filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga at the Apple Store SoHo as he discusses “Sin Nombre.”  indieWIRE Editor in Chief Eugene Hernandez will moderate the discussion.