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Toronto After Dark Review: ‘Tigers Are Not Afraid’ is a Beautiful, Brilliant, Dark Fairytale

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With Tigers Are Not Afraid, writer/director Issa López has crafted an emotionally beautiful fairytale, tangled in the horrific underworld of cartel violence in Mexico.

Tigers Are Not Afraid begins with a title card that provides the tragic, sobering facts of the drug war. Since its beginning in 2006, 160,000 people have been killed and 53,000 have disappeared in Mexico. There are no numbers for the children they’ve left behind.

via TADFF

The film follows a young girl, Estrella (Paola Lara), as she returns home from school to find her mother missing. She soon joins with a group of four orphans  – not unlike Wendy and the Lost Boys – and they form their own gang to care and watch out for each other while evading violent gangsters.

Tigers Are Not Afraid brings a heartfelt magic to a dark world by giving Estrella the power of three wishes. As each wish is granted, the twisted results weave an important thread into the stunning tapestry of the film’s story.

For a film that is so deeply rooted in the wonder, fear, and delightful logic of children, it’s vital to have an incredible cast to carry it through. López cast five children with no previous acting experience. In a brilliant move by López, they shot in chronological order and the children were never shown the full script, so their pure, raw emotion is beautifully authentic.

via TADFF

The children’s performances are incredibly honest and absolutely wonderful. Their happy, playful moments are an utter joy to watch, and their sadness and fear is completely heartbreaking.

Juan Ramón López as gang leader El Shine is particularly mesmerizing. There’s an emotional complexity in his performance that projects maturity far beyond his young age. He’s mastered the art of stillness and communicates volumes with just the look in his eyes. This kid is impressive.

via TADFF

Part of the brilliance of Tigers Are Not Afraid lies in López’s understanding of the young characters and the way children interpret and rationalize things. In one scene, we hear the kids describe the gruesome, over-the-top methods of the Huascas (the local, particularly sinister gang). Shortly after, audio from a news report playing in the background provides a far more accurate description of their criminal activity.

It’s a moment that stands out to the adult viewer, reminding you of the dramatic ways your imagination would fill in situational blanks as a child. We would jump to the most logical conclusion in a time when our logic was full of elaborate, fantastical ideas.

Other times, these youthful interpretations are far more optimistic. The children marvel at the possibilities of found objects; they make a dilapidated building into a magnificent home, full of opportunity and beauty.

At its heart, Tigers Are Not Afraid is about a loss of innocence. The reality of a constant potential for danger is never lost on these children, but because it has been and continues to be such a normal part of their lives, they adapt. As children do. They see the darkness in the world but still continue to reach for the light.

via TADFF

Supernatural elements blend with the gritty, harsh reality of the story to paint a rich, magical world. Ghostly apparitions – victims of gang violence – are not graceful, ethereal beings. They are full of tragic rage. It’s easy to feel Estrella’s fear when she’s confronted by these horrific specters.

Other moments have a warm, fairytale quality that lifts your heart in a swell of emotion. This elaborate dreamscape is held in a delicate balance that López has perfected. She makes it look so effortless and easy that it’s as natural as breathing.

Tigers Are Not Afraid deserves to be ranked in the highest echelon, among films like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth (it’s worth noting that Guillermo Del Toro was such a fan that he’s announced that he will be producing a film for López).

It’s beautiful in every sense of the word, yet fully embraces its own darkness. There’s so much that could be said about this film, but instead, I urge you to see it for yourself. Nothing else could do it justice.

 

Check out the trailer and poster below, and click here to read about the 4 other films I cannot wait to see at Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

via TADFF

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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