WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

(A.k.a. SOMOS LO QUE HAY)

"If you scream again, I will pull your eyes out".

From the opening shot, Jorge Michel Grau's brilliant WE ARE WHAT WE ARE plays on themes of alienation and isolation on the streets of contemporary Mexico. In wide shots illustrating barren graffiti-riddled streets, bringing to mind Gaspar Noe's I STAND ALONE, we see a middle-aged wreck of a man ambling along the uneven asphalt. He grimaces into a shop window and the shop assistant turns away, despite the man's pain being evident. Eventually he collapses and dies on the street. And no-one lifts a finger to help.

Then we meet the family the man has left behind: volatile mother Patricia (Carmen Beato), eldest son Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro), younger sibling Julian (Alan Chavez) and withdrawn daughter Sabina (Paulina Gaitan)

Struggling to carry on as normal, the two boys venture to the local market where they hope to take up their father's previous job as clock repairer. An altercation with the stall owner demonstrates how much of a loose cannon Julian can be - a real hothead. Alfredo, meanwhile, is revealed as being the more contemplative one, complete with lifeless brown tank-top.

Inside their grey, decaying house, where the wallpaper is peeling away from the architecture and shadows only serve to conceal the worst of the squalor, the family quickly falls apart. As shitty as their home may be, they don't even own that - their landlady has ordered them out because dad didn't pay the rent.

Patricia locks herself in her bedroom and refuses to come out to see her teenaged kids. They in turn gather and ask each other whether they can possibly continue to live in the style their father had made them accustomed to. Now, you may think: hang on, they live in a shithole in a forbidding neighbourhood and everyone is unfriendly - this is Hell on Earth - why would they be happy with this lifestyle? But there is more to the kids' question than initially meets the eye.

For, as we learn before too long, this family is in fact a clan of suburban cannibals. As the eldest, it is on Alfredo's head to take up his father's familial duties and provide the family with food. But he can't bring himself to do it. No worries there, Julian is more than up to the challenge. But, in Sabina's own words, he is "clumsy and violent" - Alfredo needs to become the provider, as he has the warmth and intelligence to keep the family 'rite' discreet.

In the meantime though, and unbeknownst to the family, an autopsy on the father's cadaver reveals that he was prone to a spot of cannibalism. The matter is brought to the attention of a couple of detectives - but whether or not they'll investigate it is debatable, such is their flippant attitude to their responsibilities.

A subtle strain of mordant humour is welcome whenever it presents itself in this otherwise oppressive and downbeat chiller. The tone is bleak and the outcome feels negative long before it is reached. But it all works supremely well under first-time feature director Grau's assured hand.

Stunningly shot in wide shots and with a deliberately muted colour palette that perfectly captures the coldness of the society Grau seeks to condemn, the film is measured in pace but superbly consistent in feel and builds a sense of unease so consummately that the final act truly is riveting.

Low-key performances, understated but superb production design and a nicely Gothic score from Enrico Chapela further aide WE ARE WHAT WE ARE in its quest to emerge as an intelligent, thought-provoking genre film that finds as much horror in an uncaring society as it does the lengths one will go to in order to protect their family.

It may prove to be a tad leisurely for some tastes but if you can take slow-burning subtitled dramas, this proves to be enormously rewarding fare. And it does heat up: as superb as the exposition is, there's no doubting that the film is enriched further by some jarring gore later into proceedings.

And, the ending? Without doling out any unwelcome spoilers, I can still say it's equal parts harrowing, heart-rending and as perfectly logical as it possibly could be. It may require some thought, or a second viewing, to fully grasp the weight of it, but ... that makes it all the more satisfying.

The screener disc provided by Artificial Eye is a very early promo DVD-R and as such is impossible to review in terms of quality. It's simply not going to be indicative of the final retail disc.

For a start, this screener disc presents the film in a very soft non-anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer with burned-in English subtitles that at times were so blurred they were difficult to read.

The Spanish 2.0 audio was okay but, again, I imagine a marked improvement will be in place by the time the DVD is released. At the time of writing (17 October 2010), the DVD is scheduled for release on 12 November 2010.

It's a measure of the film's quality that I found it so enjoyable, despite the lousy presentation on the screener disc.

No menus or extras were available to comment upon.

It's an unfriendly world and all we have is family. And family must fend for itself. That's the bleak message that Grau puts across. But he does it in such an impressive manner that you won't mind the pessimism: WE ARE WHAT WE ARE is as grim as it is striking; as involving as it is discomfiting.

I look forward to whatever Grau does next, and I look forward to buying the DVD of this rather great film from Artificial Eye.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Artificial Eye
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