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Gerardo Naranjo made the teen runaway drama I’m Gonna Explode in 2008 Authentic Christian Yelich Jersey , and now offers a violent pulp opera, set amid the brutal drug wars of the Mexican gangs. There is a fiercely Hollywoodised style here: brash, muscular and loud, but a flavour that I would describe as sexed-up rather than sexy. Stephanie Sigman plays Laura, a beautiful young woman whose only ambition Authentic Mike Moustakas Jersey , and only route out of poverty, is the local beauty contest. Laura’s life is changed for ever when she finds herself mixed up with some very scary gangsters who take a shine to her. They arrange for her to do unexpectedly well in this highly corrupt competition, on the understanding that she does a few errands and uses her new celebrity to help them. Laura is, of course, in a deeply ironic position: she does not “deserve“ the tarnished beauty queen crown Authentic Ryan Braun Jersey , but she has found personal reserves of toughness. Is her survival a more important achievement? Miss Bala is well made, and conceived as something different from the self-conscious pastiche-homage of Rodriguez or Tarantino. It is trying pretty hard for its effects.


What would you get if Michael Mann retooled Lucrecia Martel’s ‘The Headless Woman’ for the Guns & Ammo set? Gerardo Naranjo’s gobsmacking ‘Miss Bala’ is what: an abrasive, anything-can-happen dirge through Mexico’s dismal criminal underbelly as seen through the gorgeous peepers of the wannabe beauty queen of the title (Stephanie Sigman). While visiting a grotty underground discotheque frequented by bent coppers, our feisty heroine is kidnapped by a band of faceless, nameless terrorists and coerced into carrying out their illegal bidding (and more). It’s then simply a case of watching in horror as she’s knocked around the city like a pinball Authentic Lorenzo Cain Jersey , violated at regular intervals and with absolutely no one she can turn to for assistance.


On a purely technical level, this is a highly accomplished and original piece of work, with all the action delivered from the perspective of the simpering but tough Sigman. Narajo channelled Godard’s ‘Pierrot le Fou’ in his rough-edged previous feature, ‘I’m Gonna Explode’, and even though the tone is very different Authentic Cory Spangenberg Jersey , this new work playfully evokes the spiralling descent into savagery of JLG’s ‘Week End’, or even the impulsive, tinpot revolutionaries that populate his ‘La Chinoise’ or ‘Prénom: Carmen’. Not that Narajo is particularly interested in fleshing out rational ideologies for either cops or bandits: his film is all the more disarming for the fact that it takes place in a society where politics appears redundant and money and power are gained through violent, minutely orchestrated coups.


So it’s not a political film, nor is it one that peddles a liberal news agenda about Mexico’s ongoing drug war. It does Robin Yount Jersey , however, allow us to take an objective look at various legal power structures, and it helps us to understand that whoever wins this battle, we lose. Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman) dreams of winning a beauty pageant. The 23-year-old is from a poor family in Tijuana and is therefore mostly unprepared for her pageant audition when it finally arrives, but she has a striking quality about her that gets her through to the next round. When her friend Suzu (who also made the cut) goes out to celebrate Jim Gantner Jersey , Laura tags along. But she’s soon caught up in a vicious drug cartel and turned into a runner for the organization.


On the surface, the film is a warning against the escalating dangers of the Mexican drug trade and its effect on the citizens of that country. But writerdirector Naranjo also seems to indicate that vanity is almost as dangerous as bullets and the cartels who wield them. Laura’s goal of winning a pageant comes as an ironically bitter victory near the end of the film considering the horrors she experiences on her way there, and the movie poses an interesting question: is it better to be objectifiedglorified by society as a whole, or by a single individual? The bleak tone, saturating the film all the way to the ending Cecil Cooper Jersey , suggests neither option comes with a pleasing outcome. Laura’s encounters with the threatening leader of the gang (Hernandez) are unnerving, hearkening back to another movie this year that deals with similar psychology, Martha Marcy May Marlene.


The acting is impressive from everyone involved, but Miss Bala is a primarily showcase for lead actress Stephanie Sigman. This is a Noomi RapaceDragon Tattoo level performance, and it’s easy to see the potential for Sigman to follow in Rapace’s footsteps with that same crossover potential into bigger Hollywood features. Noe Hernandez is menacing and terrifying in his silences Glenn Robinson Jersey , providing a clear villain in a story that’s sometimes hard to follow. A lot happens in this film, but it’s still a slower moving picture than most of the major releases I’ve seen this year; Naranjo builds tension with shot selection, relying on a ton of following shots in which the camera lurks around corners, following Laura and adding a creepy voyeuristic element throughout.


Ultimately, Miss Bala couldn’t sustain my interest because Laura’s actions ceased making sense to me. At a certain major event in the film (it takes place in a truck Paul Molitor Jersey , for those of you who may have seen it), the movie completely lost me regarding her motivation, and I disconnected so dramatically that there was nothing the movie could have done to pull me back in. I know the film is critically acclaimed, but I don’t care - a few well-executed shootouts and extended long takes are not the only elements needed for a successful movie. Here’s hoping the rest of the 2011 AFI Film Festival has a bit mor