[FANTASIA 2018] ‘TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID’ Review

It’s hard to pin down exactly what genre Tigers Are Not Afraid falls under. It’s kids living and growing on the streets, it’s got comedy, it’s a crime story, it’s a mystery, and it’s a ghost story. It’s a challenging watch, an emotional one, a frightening one, a thrilling one, and a heartwarming one.   Somehow all of this is cohesive and under the guise of a fairy tale framework that contains it all. It’s easy to see why big genre names like Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro are hyping the movie, as it’s definitely influenced by some of their most known and loved work.

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Estrella (Paola Lara) has lost her mother. She has disappeared, likely kidnapped for human trafficking, and is presumed dead. She’s suddenly begun to feel the presence of her mother in their apartment, which scares her out of living there. A band of orphaned street urchins very reluctantly take her in, as they too have lost their parents to the rampant violence in the area. Due to the hijinks of the kids’ leader Shine (Juan Ramon Lopez), the local crime lords the Huascas are after them. After a prominent gang member Caco (Ianis Guerrero) is killed and Estrella takes credit for it, the group accepts her and the word on the street spreads. It would appear that they are now in possession of Caco’s cell phone with some very damning evidence of murder, and the Huascas leader Chino (Tenoch Huerta) is willing to do anything to get it back. But the spirit of Estrella’s mother has caught up to her and is asking to bring her Chino.

I can’t really describe how much this movie got me. I had attempted to start it twice very late at night and dozed off, but the third time I was determined to make it through, and after about 20 minutes the movie just captivated me completely. All of the kids are good actors, very natural and with likable characters. They all have a very real relationship together that doesn’t feel fabricated and feels like actual children instead of actors. Once they’re put into very real peril I realized how attached to them I had gotten. Issa Lopez is a director I’m not familiar with, but after looking around it seems that she’s generally a comedy writer/director and that this is a giant leap forward. I would have never imagined this! Her visual storytelling and gruff style is so confident that I would never imagine she had a background in anything but gritty street tales or creepy horror flicks. Influences are on her sleeve, especially Del Toro, and this is a modern companion to The Devil’s Backbone in a number of ways. High praise, but I really believe this delivers in a similar way. There’s a lot of commentary on the violence and darkness in that surrounds life in Mexico, delivered with a touch of the supernatural.

I’d heard good things since this premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2017, and I was very excited to finally get the chance to see it. I really hope you do as well, as I think this is one of the best movies of 2018. The story of the tiger who isn’t afraid and vanquishes his enemies, a tale that stands as a ray of light for these children living in a land surrounded by chaos and a lack of hope. It’s a powerful story, a timely one, and a great introduction of a new voice in genre cinema. See this as soon as you can!

In addition to playing at Fantasia 2018, the movie has world-wide distribution through Videocine, and will hopefully be getting a release this fall. We’ll keep you posted!