The Low End Theory

The heat is on in this LA-set neo noir. It burns through the high colour palette of the cinematography by Gemma Doll-Grossman, from its hot LA days to neon-lit nights. It also smoulders through the central performance of Sofia Yepes - who co-wrote the script with director Francisco Ordoñez - so that you never quite know when her emotions are going to combust.

Yepes plays Raquel, an ex-marine with strong belief in karma. An aspiring hip hop producer, she spends her off-hours hustling her demos round studios with her mate Efraim (Rene Rosado) but their main source of income comes from working for local drug lord Uly (Eddie Martinez). Raquel is not just in deep with Uly’s organisation as she helps launder cash from his business, she’s also dating his sister Giselle (Ser Anzoategui).

Ordoñez keeps us with Raquel from the start, adding kinetic energy by occasionally inserting quick jump cuts that bring us suddenly closer to her. Although employed a little erratically across the film, they mostly achieve the target of adding tension to the mood. We also occasionally dip into Raquel’s violent dreams and fantasies, stemming from a traumatic past that is gradually revealed. Further energy comes from the scoring from Will Bates, Erik Lutz and Fall On Your Sword, which frequently draws on the sorts of beats Raquel creates.

In the tradition of classic noir, there’s a femme fatale, Veronica (Sidney Flanigan in a radically different role from the one that shot her to fame in Never Rarely Sometimes Always). Stumbling into Raquel’s life by accident, chemistry burns between them almost from the off. If the stakes are already high for Raquel as she conducts an affair, they climb further when she hatches a plan to help Veronica pay off a debt.

This is just the start of a satisfyingly twisty plot that plays by the established rules of cross and double-cross while still being unpredictable. Like the similarly noir-inflected Love Lies Bleeding, it is added further freshness by its LGBTQ+ central characters, although despite its fantasy moments, Ordoñez keeps this firmly rooted in the real world of Latinx LA. More supporting character development would be welcome, particularly in the second act, but once the relationship between Raquel and Veronica catches light it fires up everything else around it. As the heat builds for Raquel, Ordoñez makes sure we sweat with her.