After several documentaries, Rigoberto Perezcano makes his debut as a fiction director with an appealing feature filled with documentary detail and psychological insight. The protagonist Andres – just like the director – comes from the distant Oaxaca and tries to reach the United States. He makes friends with two ladies who run a shop in Tijuana. Every time Andres gets sent back by the border police, he returns to Cata and Ela. Their husbands once successfully crossed the border and have not been in touch since.
As the Variety critic remarked : ‘It’s almost shocking to discover there really are new, compelling ways to tell the story [about migration]’. Perezcano’s style is as modest, touching and determined as his protagonists. Northless is an ode to the often absurd inventiveness of the illegal immigrant, but also makes subtly and occasionally humorously clear just how painful the situation of migrants is and the problems faced by a border town like Tijuana.
Film details
- Countries of production
- Mexico, Spain
- Year
- 2009
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2009
- Length
- 94'
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
