Before “The Kings of the World,” the latest feature from Colombian writer-director Laura Mora, inserts us in the bustling streets of Medellín, where teenagers wield machetes to protect themselves, a shot of a fairy-tale-appropriate white horse introduces the dreamlike atmosphere of this .
Homeless and with no blood family to guard them, the young souls at the forefront of this electrifying social drama fend for themselves in a gritty urban environment. Their only comfort comes from the brotherly affection they display for one another. That state, caught between tenderness and violence as they navigate an inhospitable reality, defines the visceral energy of “The Kings of the World,” Colombia’s most recent Oscar entry.
The leader of the group, 19-year-old Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda), has just learned that the land his grandmother was forcefully evicted from many years in the past has finally been returned to him, the sole heir, as part...
Homeless and with no blood family to guard them, the young souls at the forefront of this electrifying social drama fend for themselves in a gritty urban environment. Their only comfort comes from the brotherly affection they display for one another. That state, caught between tenderness and violence as they navigate an inhospitable reality, defines the visceral energy of “The Kings of the World,” Colombia’s most recent Oscar entry.
The leader of the group, 19-year-old Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda), has just learned that the land his grandmother was forcefully evicted from many years in the past has finally been returned to him, the sole heir, as part...
- 1/10/2023
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
The dreamy surreal and harshest of realities rub shoulders in Laura Mora Ortega’s San Sebastián Golden Shell-winning drama, which also suggests the past and the present have a closer interplay than you might first think. Her tale of five street kids hoping to claim a patch of ancestral land often has the tone of a fable, emphasised by its opening near-post-apocalypic opening of a city street, empty of everything except a white horse, in which a voiceover notes: “One day all the men fell asleep and all the fences of the Earth burst into flames.”
This world of foreboding calm is quickly replaced by the tumble of life for a group of homeless teens - Cuebro (Cristian David), Sere (Davison Florez), Nano (Brahian Acevedo) and Winny (Cristian Campaña) - led by the streetwise Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda). A brighter future than the streets of Medellin is held out in tantalising prospect.
This world of foreboding calm is quickly replaced by the tumble of life for a group of homeless teens - Cuebro (Cristian David), Sere (Davison Florez), Nano (Brahian Acevedo) and Winny (Cristian Campaña) - led by the streetwise Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda). A brighter future than the streets of Medellin is held out in tantalising prospect.
- 12/18/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Laura Mora’s “The Kings of the World” has no shortage of beautiful shots. The Colombia-set road trip follows a group of four teenagers as they set out to start a life anew away from the violence and poverty they’ve long grown up with. As the film moves away from the bustling streets of Medellin and into the foggy Andean landscapes, Mora captures a vision of this country in transition that is as stunning as it is eye-opening. Every frame begs to be dissected for the way it conjures the promise of futures and freedoms while also stressing the perils and dangers of such possibilities.
One early such shot is that of Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda), shirtless and fearless, atop a white horse in the middle of an empty urban street. It’s our first introduction to this young man. By himself atop this wild horse, he looks equally regal and boyish,...
One early such shot is that of Rá (Carlos Andrés Castañeda), shirtless and fearless, atop a white horse in the middle of an empty urban street. It’s our first introduction to this young man. By himself atop this wild horse, he looks equally regal and boyish,...
- 11/22/2022
- by Manuel Betancourt
- Variety Film + TV
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