Love and friendship can both be complicated at any age. But love and friendship intertwined as a teenage? That’s practically anarchy.
I Promise You Anarchy is the latest from Guatemalan director Julio Hernandez Cordon, opens in memorable fashion with skateboarder teenager Miguel (Diego Calva Hernández) getting intimate with fellow skateboarder and friend Johnny (Eduardo Eliseo Martinez), all while Johnny’s girlfriend Adri (Shvasti Calderón) is hanging out in the room next door. It’s shot in a way that makes the whole scene rather disorienting and a bit confusing for us to figure out what exactly is happening, but then again, that’s clearly the point to tie us into these young characters confused mental framework.
Miguel and Johnny spend almost all their days together, skating around town and just hanging out. They get by financing through an illegal scheme known as “milking” where they hit the black market for blood donations that gangers then sell off for profit. There’s a big deal going down, and Miguel and Johnny are offered a decent pay if they can convince everyone they know to head to the next donation.
Only things don’t go down as promised, and soon they find themselves in a criminal and moral mess that has no possible redemption. Out of their league they’re at a loss at what to do, and forced to grow up immediately.
While there are moments of greatness from Cordón as a director, and the two leads have a solid enough chemistry together, the sum of the parts don’t add up to the most complete whole and even though the films conclusion is rather stunning, I wanted to like I Promise You Anarch more than I did.
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