Fantastic Fest Review: We Are What We Are By Jenn Brown

Family dramas usually don't involve ritual murder and the consuming of human flesh. But that's not the only thing that makes We Are What We Are (Somos lo que hay) stand out in writer-director Jorge Michel Grau's first feature, and not just because it won two awards at Fantastic Fest this year (Best Film and Best Screenplay-AMD Next Wave).

Grau's merciless, gritty thriller centers on a destitute family reeling from the sudden loss of their patriarch. But unlike most families, he's not the breadwinner so much as their only procurer of victims for their bloody rituals. They don't especially mourn for him but have to find his successor and keep to their rituals. Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro) assumes it's his responsibility to be the man of the house, but he's ill equipped, despite the urgings of his sister Sabina (Paulina Gaitan), who clearly favors Alfredo over her other, impetuous brother (Alan Chávez). All the while their mother Patricia (Carmen Beato) seems paralyzed with grief, as the clocks in the house seem to be counting down to some point of no return.

The family dynamics in We Are What We Are quickly capsize; nothing is quite as it seems, from the family business to their internal hierarchy. Filled with moments petty and profound, it's clear that their obsession with consuming human flesh is not the only twisted aspect to their family and some moments suggest even darker perversions. Grau subverts stereotypes on every level, from their home (a former Olympic village turned tenement) to predators being helpless. Despite humanity being the most dangerous of games, vulnerable and likely victims are allowed realistic defenses that make it even harder for Alfredo and his family to resume life as they knew it. Grau is relentless in establishing just how reversed roles have become when Alfredo engages in an extended pursuit of a potential victim who is more than just ritual fodder, infusing it with heartbreaking vulnerability that only reinforces the monstrosity of Alfredo's reality.

Barreiro may not be recognizable to American audiences, but Gaitan may be, as one of the leads in Cary Fukunaga's indie hit Sin Nombre, and Beato co-starred in Tear This Heart Out (Arráncame la vida) which closed Cine Las Americas 2009.

We are What We Are defiantly embraces both gritty family drama and horror, yet isn't fully either. While We are What We Are doesn't emphasize violence or gore unlike most contemporary horror films; instead, Grau chooses to keep it realistically and understated until the disturbing climax. From the first scene to the final shot, Grau fully establishes himself as a filmmaker to watch. One viewing of We are What We Are will force you to re-evaluate what you expect from horror.