TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID

You’d rather not be a street child in Mexico City. You can’t count on your parents anymore because they’ve been kidnapped/killed/disappeared (delete where not applicable). You also need to put some considerable distance between yourself and the drug cartels that kill orphans for fun. Ten-year-old Estrella seeks shelter with tough-looking Shine and his gang of street urchins, who are on the run just like her. Luckily she can always rely on her fantastic friends. Because those tigers that follow her around, they’re real, no ? And the three wishes she was granted by her teacher, they do come true, right ? With the help (or not) of supernatural beings, Estrella and her friends try to elude the fangs of El Chino and his band of sinister sicarios. Tigers Are Not Afraid is like a remake of Luis Buñuel’s Mexican masterpiece Los olvidados by Guillermo del Toro. These days the street children carry smartphones, but as for the rest precious little has changed. Writer-director Issa López takes you on a fantastic thrill ride through Mexico’s urban jungle, with impressive child actors, terrific digital effects, and a fair share of horror.