Los bastardos (2008)

Director:

Amat Escalante

Writers:

Amat Escalante (writer)
Martín Escalante (writer)

Release Date:

28 January 2009 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A 24 hour period in the lives of Fausto and Jesus, two undocumented Mexican day-laborers in L.A. Each day another task...

Plot Keywords:

Mexican | Day Laborer | Shot In The Head | Strawberry | Video Game

Awards:

6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Jesus Moises Rodriguez	...	Jesús
Rubén Sosa	...	Fausto
Nina Zavarin	...	Karen
Kenny Johnston	...	Construction Boss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Albaca
Teri Booker
Aron Briggs	...	Racist BBQ kid
Trevor Glen Campbell	...	Trevor
Rodolfo Carreon
Darren Collins
Antonio De La Torre
Helena De Lang
Irana De Lang
Michael De Lang
Erik Deckard
Eric Fettes
Abelardo Gadarrama
Samuel Garcia
Brian Gomez
Ernesto Gonzalez
Daniel Green
Giselle Green
Ilen Green
Clarence Hall
Isabela Hernandez Lopez
José Hernandez
Zoé Hihler
Gary Hubb	...	Primer cliente
Ramon Jacome
Carmen Johnston
Yadira Lopez Zarape
Dan Miller
Marie Montero
Nicolosa Montero
Tony Montero
Pablo Morales
Ryan Morgan
Joe Murphy
Mia Osterholm	...	Mujer echando ojo
Joe Leroy Reynolds	...	John
Michael Edward Shelbourn
Oscar Solis
Ian 'The Red Baron' Steele
Jon 'Samuel Handsome' Sam Stroosma
Brooke Tellers
Jesus Vargas
Alejandro Vasquez
Marcia Vega

Directed by
Amat Escalante

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Amat Escalante		writer
Martín Escalante		writer

Produced by
Miguel Bonilla	....	associate producer
Marcos Cline-Márquez	....	associate producer
Amat Escalante	....	producer
Carlos Reygadas	....	associate producer
Jaime Romandia	....	producer

Cinematography by
Matthew Uhry

Film Editing by
Ayhan Ergürsel
Amat Escalante

Casting by
Martín Escalante
Lisa Pantone

Production Design by
Gabriel Abraham

Art Direction by
Jade Altman
Daniela Schneider
Zümrüt Çavusoglu

Set Decoration by
Patricia Altman

Makeup Department
Christina Guerra	....	makeup effects operations manager
Robert Hall	....	special makeup designer: Almost Human, Inc
Erik Porn	....	project supervisor: Almost Human
Darnell Shepherd	....	hair technician: Almost Human

Production Management
Rodrigo X. González	....	unit production manager
Øyvind Stiauren	....	post-production supervisor
Joakim Ziegler	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alex Ezpeleta	....	first assistant director
Kenny Johnston	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Pedro Aguilera	....	storyboard artist
Zümrüt Çavusoglu	....	property master

Sound Department
Alejandro de Icaza	....	sound designer
Alejandro de Icaza	....	sound editor
Raúl Locatelli	....	sound recordist
Steve Neal	....	mix stage engineer
Jaime Zevallos	....	loop groop member

Special Effects by
William 'Barcode' Rosa	....	lab technician

Visual Effects by
Julien Brami	....	lead matte painter
Stéphan Kosinski	....	visual effects supervisor
Jesse Monsour	....	on-set visual effects supervisor
James Pastorius	....	digital compositor
Jackie Shibles	....	digital compositor
Øyvind Stiauren	....	previsualization artist
Brian D. Williams	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
Ry Cook	....	gaffer (as Ryan Cook)
Martín Escalante	....	still photographer
Tyler Hamlet	....	grip
Kenny Johnston	....	video assist
Nicolas Martin	....	Steadicam operator
Nicolas Martin	....	assistant camera
Nicolas Martin	....	crane operator
Rich Pereksta	....	second assistant camera

Editorial Department
Leroy Wolf	....	color timer

Music Department
Ciril	....	composer: additional music
Jazkamer	....	composer: theme music
Kid606	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Nelson Ceron	....	key set production assistant
Alexander De Graaf	....	production assistant
Martín Escalante	....	director: making of
Andrew Hilboldt	....	production assistant
Octavio Hinojosa	....	production assistant
Gary Hubb	....	location manager
Jonah Miller	....	production assistant
Gabriel Reyes	....	additional dialogue

Thanks
Emilia Arau	....	thanks
Eugene Carpenter Jr.	....	very special thanks

Production Companies

• Mantarraya Producciones
• Tres Tunas
• No Dream Cinema
• Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad (FOPROCINE) (in co-production with)
• Ticoman (in co-production with)
• Bac Films (in co-production with)
• Le Pacte (with the participation of)
• Fonds Sud Cinéma (with the participation of)
• Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (with the participation of)
• Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (with the participation of)
• MCMFILMS (with the participation of)

Distributors

• CNC (2009) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Le Pacte (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (200?) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Zeta Films (2010) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Kino International (2009) (USA) (all media)
• Mongrel Media (2009) (Canada) (DVD)
• Tiger Releases (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Almost Human (special makeup effects)

Other Companies

• Art. 226  financed in part through
• CineMart  special thanks
• Cinéfondation  developed with the support of
• Fonds Sud  funding
• Terminal  post-production supervision

Also Known As:

"The Bastards" - Canada (English title) (DVD title), Europe (festival title), International (English title) (festival title)
"Bastardi" - Czech Republic
"Les batards" - Canada (French title)
"Os Bastardos" - Brazil (festival title)
"Piçler" - Turkey (Turkish title)

Runtime:

France:90 min | Argentina:90 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Mexico | France | USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | France:-12 (with warning) | Norway:15 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Mantarraya Producciones

Mexican Art-house cinema done right

Los Bastardos is a film about two very lonely Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, who are forced to spend the evening with an even lonelier American woman, under extreme circumstances. Enter Jesús and Fausto, in the first shot they are seen walking for over four minutes, Fausto, the youngest is playing with a soccer ball which he leaves behind at the end of the shot, this could represent the fact that he's leaving behind his innocence for on that day they have been hired to kill someone. The plot always makes people think this is a fast paced thriller, or a "Funny Games" type ordeal, but no. The film plays like a Carlos Reygadas movie, once there is an action there is no reaction, but contemplation of the moment. This gives the spectator time to ponder and let the feelings sink in, particularly about the life-style of Mexican day-laborers which is something very depressing to watch. The story is taken at a very slow pace, and every turn leads to something unexpected, and the use of non-actors makes the situations feel very authentic and even logical, as though they could in fact happen in that order. The amount of realism is accentuated by scenery of Los Angeles, beautifully photographed. So yes, this is a deliberately slow film but it builds emotion with its pace only to destroy one's emotions at the end. The camera language speaks to the audience, this is a very well directed film. In the end, I thought this was the kind of cinema I needed at the time, and I could see it again to analyze the amazing photography and the fascinating pace. Its a very peculiar type of cinema, but its so well made and has such profound emotion that if it falls short of masterpiece its because we are not used to a film being so determined to be so casually profound.