Sujo

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

"Sujo", while slow, is a good character study of a movie about a boy struggling in a society due to being born with a cruse that can't escape with strong direction, beautiful camerawork, and good performances from the entire cast. The narrative explores some interesting themes, characters, and ideas that felt genuine, dark, and a bit depressing and tense to observe. Including good sound designs, costumes, and atmospheres explored throughout the setting.

The performances from the cast members are good including the child performances as each cast helped to create the realistic, isolated feel and lonely of the characters situated in. Many of the characters are interesting but it does suffer from some weak developments that felt a bit hollow. I did wish the characters were a little more grounded and some of the pacing could improve. Including some of the dialogue as some of the dialogue feels a little too artificial at times.

Nevertheless, the filmmakers has proven that they have a good vision and there are some really strong moments throughout. It is flawed but it's still an ambitious story to tell.

Sujo is a film that I went into with no expectations and no knowledge of the story. I left the theater having seen a masterpiece. A film that portrays the solitude of a boy born broken, born with a curse that couldn't be removed. The passion of building a better life brought down by the life he was born into.

Stunning cinematography and amazing acting elevate the story into its own world. The child actors especially surprised me with their talent, a quiet role is often the hardest to play. The sound design is one element of the film that especially blew me away. Little details are heard in amazing quality, loud sounds are sparse but powerful. The film is told mostly from Sujo's perspective, isolating the audience and providing a terrifying realistic look at a life many of us do not get to see.

9/10.

Of course this is an authentic social drama, but not really crime though, because you won't find here any action and bloody sequences. It is only a psychological and social study of a young boy whose father was a sicario, a hired killer for the Mexican cartels. This movie is not SICARIO, I repeat, nor the adaptation of a Don Winslow's novel. This is not destined to wide audiences, and only selected folks can appreciate such a little gem. I would have prefered another kind of ending. But that remains a beautiful film, splendidly done. I will never see this film again, but don't misunderstand the content of my review. It is worth the discovery. It deserves to be seen. Not a movie produced to make the gross, and that's the most important.

There are moments of greatness in this so called movie, because is not a movie is a great documentary.

Wonderful actors so natural and lovely photography not without mention the excellent direction. This filming work is far beyond (almost all the time), of narco cliches even though it's a narco bloody culture story.

A portrait of a mexican youth in poverty condition. The destiny of millions. At least 50% of young people in Mexico faces the most horrible face of being a second, third or fourth citizen class and further more: a no class citizen.

I appreciate that every day the Mexican cinematography enthusiasts became in filmmakers, increasing their talent and show it to the world.

I got the opportunity to watch Sujo online at Sundance. It's by far the best one I saw throughout the fest! A shame I couldn't catch tickets earlier.

It tells the story of a boy, Sujo growing up in the Mexican countryside. His father is killed, he is a member of a cartel and Sujo manages to survive and grows up with his aunt Nemesia. There in the isolation he builds up his moral character and a fear of becoming his father. As he gets into adolescence the cartels catch up with him and his two best friends so he flees to the city in search of a different life.

No cheap thrills here, pure cinema at its best. In its core it is a Bildungsroman, a character study that let us see the consequences of the drug wars in the new generations. Dickensian in the mix of tools they used to achieve closeness with Sujo.

Stunning actors, stunning cinematography and score.

A coming of age masterpiece!