This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
Mik lives with his elder brother and migrant parents. He is questioning his sexuality and finds himself madly in love with his best friend Dan, with whom he indulges in masturbation while watching lesbian porn. The duo have plans to escape their homes in search for better life. But sudden death of Mik’s brother Tomi (partly because he is running away from Mik who watched him naked and got aroused) in a car accident brings further havoc in Mik’s life. His parents are indifferent to him, his father never considers Mik worthy of his son, and we find the secret later. To add further to his problems, hi smother wails about how he’ll never be half the man his brother was. Dan, meanwhile finds a girlfriend and Mik finds himself further lonely. He son finds solace with Tomi’s heavily pregnant girlfriend. Mik is so confused about what he wants that he tries to slip in his brother’s shoes by trying to sleep with his brother’s girlfriend. Mik is tormented. He goes to stranger’s home, indulges in drugs and random sexual encounter with both a guy and a girl. Things further go south when he tries to convince Dan that his girlfriend doesn’t deserve him and kisses him. Shocked, surprised and outraged; Dan ends up raping Mik only to later repent on what happened. Mik still doesn’t understand why everything bad happens only to him. Some family secrets are revealed and finally Mik realizes that he needs to stay back and take care of his parents and stay back and he will have to look for love and care with someone else outside Dan.
One thing that the film clearly shows is the uncertainties that Mik’s like keeps bringing him. Truly everything seems to go wrong for the kid. The guy playing the character of Mik does an incredible job as a frightened and confused teenager who feels responsible for his parents unhappiness, for his sibling’s death and scared of losing his best friend to a girl. His struggle with his identity is very real. On the other hand his best friend Dan tries to be there for him every step of the way until he gets to know that Mik is in love with him. The parents reaction was a bit something that I didn’t understand. Surely it wasn’t Mik’s fault for who his father was but both his parents treat him very bad for no reason. He is given no love and is even made responsible for his brother’s death. The film was intense because you just did not know what else is gonna go wrong for the boy and you just want to be there for him. The film doesn’t hold back on the struggles that come with such a sexual awakening.
An interestingly unique and different film though quite heavy. You need to be in the right set of mind to understand and really appreciate this film. (7/10)
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