Sujo (2024)

A revenge killing in a remote Mexican town leaves the already motherless young "Sujo" (Kevin Aguilar) an orphan. Luckily for him, his aunt "Neme" (Yadira Pérez) rescues him from the same vengeful fate and brings him up determined that he will resist the temptations of the town that might lead him to follow in his father's footsteps. That's no easy task as his close friends soon end up involved with the local cartel and so she sends the now teenage lad to find work in the vastness of their capital. Here he (now Juan Jesús Varela) begins to yearn for an education, and befriends the teacher "Susan" (Sandra Lorenzano) but the visit of his childhood friend "Jai" (Alexis Varela) reminds him that it's going to be very difficult to cut the ties with his past. This is really quite a touching depiction of a life born into a society that's tight, loyal and violent. Depart from the established order of things and life soon becomes worthless, existence perilous and it's an entire family that can become a target. The young Aguilar sets up the characterisation really quite effectively as an innocent young boy caught up in a maelstrom of events that leaves him rudderless and alone before morphing into the older character whom Varela continues to develop delicately into a young man whose goals, conviction and innate decency might just help him break from the cycle of hopelessness. Pérez also delivers strongly playing on a combination of the practical and the mystical as she strives to keep the lad, and his friends, on a different track - despite the obvious temptations of the bright lights and the money they bring. His late father had a car. A fancy one, at that, and when the young man learns to drive it it might offer him a route out or a route in...? It's a slowly paced affair, this, but essentially it's about choices and brave ones at that. The status quo brings acceptance, brutality and normalcy; a new life requires unsettling changes and risks almost as great. There are no easy wins for this young man.