ONLINE—The Wall of Mexico

(Zachary Cotler, Magdalena Zyzak, US/Mexico 2019, 110 min.)

Drifter Donovan (Jackson Rathbone) is hired on by the wealthy Arista family as a handyman on their rural southwest compound, which they have named Mexico. The Aristas appear wealthy, and act the part, with expensive amenities and seemingly endless languorous respite. Don becomes particularly enamored of the Arista daughters, who spend their nights of booze, drugs, and sex among the company of a select few. When Don is asked to guard the family well overnight, pieces of an intriguing puzzle begin to come together. The Aristas build a wall around Mexico to protect their property from the townspeople, putting Don in the crossfire of a cultural and economic standoff. Directors Magdalena Zyzak and Zachary Cotler (who also wrote the film) turn the current situation in the southwest on its head, asking the audience to see the conflict from all points of view.