Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Heli (2013)

3/24/2024

Heli (2013) - Alarming drug drama from sieged Mexico

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A girl in school dress walks in a barren, rough landscape on this ominous poster for Amat Escalante's Heli

Heli is newly married in the poor area of Durango, Mexico, where his smaller sister has a boyfriend several years her senior, and where a drug situation involving this boyfriend will soon alter everything for the family.

Heli is written by Gabriel Reyes (Bella y Loca (2018)) and co-writer/director Amat Escalante (Blood/Sangre (2005)), with contributions by Zümrüt Cavusoglu (The Bastards/Los Bastardos (2008), art director) and Ayhan Ergürsel (Grain/Bugday (2017), editor).

It is a gruesome and grim film about the extreme hopelessness and depraved, macho-centered violence that holds much of Mexico in a vice. The powerless and desperate characters do not strike a deep sense of identification for most audiences, because they are dehumanized, but this is a point in itself. Their situation is striking and unadorned in this remarkable film.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 1 mil. $

Box office: 367k $

= Mega-flop (returned 0.36 times its cost)

[Heli premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 105 minutes. 17 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in Mexico in 2012. The film has only played a few film festivals in North America and was mainly a festival title. Its 5 recorded markets at Box Office Mojo record a 367k $ gross with the majority (309k $ (84.2 % of the total gross))) coming from Mexico. The film won Escalante the Best Director prize at Cannes, among other honors.It was Mexico's nomination for the Best Foreign Film Oscar of the year but did not get nominated. Escalante returned with Esclava (2014, short) and theatrically with Vidas Violentas (2015). Armando Espitia (Latido (2023)) returned in Open Cage/Los Bañistas (2014); Andrea Vergara, who plays his sister, has not returned to acting. Heli is rotten at 59 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Heli?

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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3/24/2024

Heli (2013) - Alarming drug drama from sieged Mexico

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