Lowlife (Fantasia 2017)
Drew Tinnin
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Starring Nicki Micheaux, Ricardo Adam Zarate, Jon Oswald, Shaye Ogbonna, Santana Dempsey
Directed by Ryan Prows
Screened at Fantasia 2017
Premiering at the 2017 Fantasia International Film Festival, Ryan Prows’ Lowlife is probably the most buzzed about film currently, with some dubbing it an instant genre classic. It’s modern exploitation at its best, hitting on current issues like immigration and drug addiction while still delivering a hyper-real sense of entertainment. The ragtag group of characters are memorable because of how extremely they’re drawn up, and they all mesh well with the bloody, gunpowder intensity on display throughout the film’s tightly crafted run time.
Harkening back to the Mexican pulp noir of the Fifties and Sixties featuring the iconic El Santo, an infamous luchador called El Monstruo (Zarate) is forced to be the muscle for Teddy “Bear” Haynes (Burnham) – a slimy cartel organ smuggler laying waste to his dying neighborhood. El Monstruo hangs on to his pride and his sense of duty solely because of his pregnant girlfriend who carries the Son of El Monstruo in her belly, ensuring a luchador legacy. With the help of his old friend Randy (Oswald), fresh out of the clink sporting a massive face tattoo of a Swastika, El Monstruo is determined to take down the cartel before his soul reaches the point of no return.
Cartoonish without losing its heart, Lowlife depicts a colorful genre world that still tackles the new politics of immigration. Often dealing with the sobering fear of ICE officers while also showing the more exaggerated threat of the cartel, the message is there but never gets in the way of the fun. And there’s a lot of fun to be had.
Almost existing in a world adjacent to Garth Ennis’ Preacher, the characters in Lowlife are diametrically opposed but somehow wind up together under a common goal. It’s a team-up only found in comic books usually. The chemistry between El Monstruo and Randy is electric, and an entire television series could be based around their antics. Instead of buddy cops, they’re brothers in crime. Against the odds but determined to fight back, the luchador code to protect and serve keeps the group on a path to righteousness.
If the buzz is any indication, you probably won’t have to search too far to find Lowlife and fall in love with its wacky sense of do-goodery. It may even inspire you to don the mask yourself and go after the drug-slinging black market organ donor in your neighborhood.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
