Sayang Wayang: Blaze You Out (2013)

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Blaze You Out (2013)

Symbol of Contrition? Veronica Diaz-Carranza gets inked.

Mark Adair-Rios is one charged cabron.

At a glance:

The labour of Latino love entitled Blaze You Out (2013) is a gangland drama written and directed by feature film first timers Diego Joaquin Lopez and Mateo Frazier, set in Esperanza Valley, New Mexico. It's about an aspirin DJ named Lupe (Veronica Diaz-Carranza) who's sucked into her sick town’s heroin underworld to save her younger sister Alicia (Melissa Cordero). Mark Adair-Rios has strong presence, playin a wordsmith of a thug named Whitey. Title refers to the villain's refrain as to why he's makin rounds.

Veronica Diaz-Carranza

Bad news on the doorstep:

Lookin to transcend demographics is surely the plan here. However, a lot of story flow are lost to its somewhat self-important characters. There's plenty of dramatic weight and style. Great music, even. Sometimes the lines are strong and feel like they come from a very real place. At other times, they feel as if we're bein treated like a two-bit chavalo to have to take it all in. Puñeta!

Perennial wonderment:

Elizabeth Peña

Elizabeth Peña is no longer the crisp article we saw in La Bamba (1987) and Jacob's Ladder (1990), eh? She gets a runout here, playin a gang matriarch.

Reminds me of:

Playin GTA on the XBOX many, many years ago.

Watch out for:

Openin credits, to the tune of Devil's Playground by Gram Rabbit. Definitely looks like it belongs in a superior product.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

You could worse and you could do better, I guess. Sounds like a community project that really took off and despite its shortcomings, you can tell the story has a heart that's in the right place. Go check out the official Facebook fan page and also the official website for more info.★★1/2