The majority of films about illegal immigration focus on the harrowing experience of crossing from Latin America into the United States. Films like Babel and El Norte showcase the stark landscapes and beating sun, the crippling dehydration and the constant possibility of death, the shady coyotes who facilitate border crossings, and disillusionment of what comes next. You wonder: is there another type of film to be made that highlights a, gulp, lighter side of border crossing?
Rigoberto Perezcano’s second feature Northless (Norteado), which showed Sunday at the 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival, illustrates that there is.
Andres (Harold Torres) is a Oaxacan migrant, seeking to sneak across the Mexican-American border. When he fails, he ends up in Tijuana, the guest of Ela (Alicia Laguna) and Cata (Sonia Couoh), fellow migrants who, abandoned by their husbands for the north, have set up permanent shop in town. Intent on a future outside of Mexico, Andres tries and fails, over and over again, each time finding solace (and romance) in Cata and Ela.
Northless is a mostly light-hearted film about the loneliness of being away from home, and the small moments and relationships that help to alleviate the gloom. Separated from their families by miles of desert, the characters in Northless gravitate toward each other and the film is full of the sort of near-precious moments you’d expect in a hip indie comedy about urban living. Andres and Ela drunkenly dance to a jukebox’s tinny norteno; Andres and Cata are serenaded by a wandering band of Mexican troubadours; shy smiles and awkward breakfasts follow late night trysts.
Yes, there is expansive shots of cracked desert floors and yes there are cigarette smoking Coyotes and the stern arm of the border patrol, but these are peripheral visions. Instead Northless finds a way to transcend the cliches and find a subdued sort of joy in a considerably awful set of circumstances. The downsides of illegal border crossing are certainly presented, but the film chooses to use them only as a balance to the quirky misadventures of its delightful cast.
Show times
Fri, Apr 30 / 9:30 p.m. / Clay
Wed, May 05 / 4:30 p.m. / Kabuki