Barrio Triste | TIFF50

Editor's Note: Everyone say hi to Sharai Bohannon, a friend I made at TIFF who you may know from her many, many other written placements across the cinematic Internet. She managed to catch "Barrio Triste" at TIFF, and very kindly has trusted us with her write-up!

I didn’t expect anything Barrio Triste did to me or my poor brain. I snatched a ticket because I like STILLZ’s work with Bad Bunny and wanted to see what he’d do with a feature. So, I was surprised it was a found footage coming-of-age tale set in the '90s that eventually gets into the weirdest kind of chaos.

It was giving drama up top. We were introduced to these teen boys who are documenting their crimes with a camera they stole from a TV news crew. It also set up the frenzied and chaotic tone that made it difficult to follow along at times.

The stolen camera is a smart way to get into found footage territory though. It also made me think about all the kids who put EVERYTHING on TikTok and seem surprised they have to suffer repercussions. However, these teens reminded me of kids from the neighborhoods I grew up in. I hear the irony of saying that when I grew up in the Midwest, and this is set in Medellín, Colombia, and tackling a very specific conversation. I’m just saying it made it even more relatable and made me feel bad for them even as they were cutting up. It might also be why I am more generous to this movie than I think most people will be.

They really worked overtime to make me weep when it started showing bits of a filmed interrogation with one of the teens, Piojo, played by possibly the film MVP, Juan Pablo Baena. He is tasked with driving home what Barrio Triste wants the audience to take away from this confusing (but impactful) passion project. He spells out how lonely they are and the lives they dream of living. I found myself tearing up a bit when he started to almost cry. I was not expecting to have feelings on a Thursday night, and I'm glad I was not wearing mascara. I’m so happy he got extra screen time amid the various ideas floating around in each frame of this movie. Otherwise, the thesis would definitely go over most people’s heads.

The movie feels like a bunch of disjointed thoughts that escalate into something genre-agnostic. What seemed like a drama about kids failed by the system becomes a trippy sci-fi situation that feels a little unfinished. I’m not saying it is a bad movie. It made me feel my feelings, and communicated what the filmmaker wanted. There was some very bizarre imagery, which is now burned into my brain. It just feels more like an experiential art piece about forgotten teens than a typical movie. It left me sad, and I was happy I saw it. To be honest, it might be one of those films you have to watch a few times to really "get it". So, that's definitely not everyone's jam.