I Promise You Anarchy

''I Promise You Anarchy'' () is a 2015 Mexican drama film, directed and written by Julio Hernández Cordón. The film stars Diego Calva Hernández and Eduardo Eliseo Martinez as two long-time friends and lovers, who are involved in clandestine blood trafficking and encounter a deal with drug lords gone terribly wrong.

The film premiered at the 68th Locarno International Film Festival, being the only Latin film competing for the Golden Leopard Award, and was screened at the Contemporary World Cinema Section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. After its exhibition at the 13th Morelia International Film Festival, the film earned the Guerrero Award for Best Mexican Feature and a Special Mention by the Jury. The film also received two nominations at the 2016 Ariel Awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography.

The film is a love story between two people that addresses the issue of illegal blood trafficking in Mexico, it is a story of crime and strong social criticism.

Plot

Miguel, a middle-class young man living in Mexico City, is in love with Johnny, a glue sniffing skater whose mother is Miguel’s family house maid. Miguel and Johnny work together getting people to give blood for it to be sold in illegal blood trafficking deals ordered by their associate Gabriel.

The film opens with Miguel and Johnny arguing outside of the latter’s tank truck he lives out of, Johnny accuses Miguel of telling people they are sleeping together. They later have sex in the truck while Johnny’s girlfriend Adri is asleep near them, when Miguel leaves at night, he steals her clothes and drops them in a pedestrian bridge.

Gabriel calls them to organize a quick job in the morning. When organized, Gabriel tells Miguel privately that a blood bag turned in by Johnny tested positive for hepatitis C and questions Miguel if he has it as well. Gabriel later asks Miguel if he could get him 50 people for a job that would get him paid well.

Miguel finds Johnny and Adri at the jai alai court and they argue. Later, Miguel brings up the hepatitis C result to Johnny, questioning who he’s slept with and his distrust of Adri, Johnny shuts him down annoyed. Miguel asks Johnny if he'd be okay dealing with drug lords (narcos) to which he says he doesn't mind. Johnny suggests they could live together at the jai alai court but Miguel rejects him.

The day of the deal comes, and the 50 participants are acquired, ranging from very young teens to the elderly, many are friends and relatives of the two. David, the guy they will be selling to, arrives and intimidates everyone as he arrives with a large truck and armed men. The participants voice their concerns to Miguel when they realize they will be transported in a large box truck to an unknown location, when they attempt to back out David threatens them, Miguel nervously tries to get them to comply and asks David to wait while he and Johnny get water and snacks to calm them down, however, they come back to an empty lot realizing all the people have just been taken away.

Miguel and Johnny skate around the city attempting to hunt down the truck but give up knowing they're long gone. They're unable to contact Gabriel so they show up to his job, when confronted he feigns ignorance and tells them to wait until his job is over, however Miguel and Johnny sneak inside the studio and batter him to death. Shocked and petrified, they keep skating around the city, and in a subway train they notice an older man who's been beat up near them.

Miguel and Johnny stay in a hotel room and question what to do with all the money. When Miguel is asleep, Johnny calls his mother, Brenda, to tell her he has enough money for them to be on their own, and sneaks out. Brenda doesn't trust him especially when Johnny doesn't tell her how he came up with the money. They stay at one of Brenda’s friends at an off-road restaurant outside the city, Johnny voices his disliking of the area as there is not space for him to skate, Brenda slaps him and he runs away. Miguel wakes up in a frenzy, calling his mother who now tells him Brenda is gone, she picks him up at the hotel, angry, and drives him to the airport having arranged him to fly off to Texas and work with one of his dad's friends, he doesn't fight it but questions what would happen with Johnny amidst all this.

Miguel feels depressed and alone, trying to find solace skating and sniffing glue reminiscing Johnny. After work, walking he fantasizes about Johnny and the movie ends with an imagined scene of the two of them skating together in Texas.

Cast

*Diego Calva Hernández as Miguel
*Eduardo Eliseo Martinez as Johnny
*Shvasti Calderón as Adri
*Oscar Mario Botello as David
*Gabriel Casanova as Gabriel
*Sarah Minter as Miguel's Mother
*Martha Claudia Moreno as Johnny's Mother
*Diego Escamilla Corona as Techno
*Milkman as David
*Erwin Jonathan Mora Alvarado as Príncipe Azteca
*Juan Pablo Escalante as Nito
*Daniel Adrián Mejía Aguirre as Hamster
*Mario Alberto Sánchez as Major Tom
*Yair Domínguez Monroy as Pedo Bomba
*Francisco Kjeldson as Safari

Production

Diana Sánchez, artistic director of the Panama International Film Festival, stated that the film is "a lovely and heartfelt exploration of love and friendship. Beautifully shot, the film demonstrates Hernández’s versatility and progression as a filmmaker. The scenes of the skateboarders in Mexico City, for instance, are kinetic and feel very realistic”. According to the director, he tried to mix documentary, fiction and film noir, with the film showing "the innocence of youth and the moments you try to play the bad guy, the criminal, but you are not really that kind of character". ''Te Prometo Anarquía'' won one part of a split prize at the 2015 Panamá International Film Festival, where it received US$20,000 to pay post production fees; the rest of the prize (US$5,000) was awarded to Costa Rica's ''El Sonido de las Cosas'' ("The Sound of Things"), directed by Ariel Escalante.

Reception

The film was named "The Best Mexican Film of 2015" by Fernanda Solórzano of ''Letras Libres''.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:I Promise You Anarchy
2015 films
2015 drama films
Mexican LGBTQ-related films
Mexican drama films
2010s Spanish-language films
2010s LGBTQ-related drama films
2015 LGBTQ-related films
2010s Mexican films
Spanish-language drama films