CITY OF DREAMS - Mark Reviews Movies

City of Dreams, Roadside Attractions

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | August 29, 2024

The most intriguing character in City of Dreams is also the most hateful one. He's the head of the sweatshop in Los Angeles where most of writer/director Mohit Ramchandani's story unfolds. This is a place where migrants, dreaming of a better life in the United States than the ones they have in Central or South America, are forced to make clothes for a high-end fashion company. In the bigger picture, this character is barely middle management in the chain of this exploitative business enterprise, because he has no power outside of the sweatshop. In it, though, he is the boss, and he wields that power with the brutality of a man who knows he is powerless and helpless.

One can see what Ramchandani is doing with this character, known only as El Jefe and played by Alfredo Castro. It's a frightening character and performance, initially because the man, who only arrives when one of the coerced workers isn't meeting a quota or openly questions why anyone has to do this work in the first place, is such an intimidating threat. We know this because he stamps out any hint of rebellion with intimidation and any actual resistance with physical violence, ordered by him but always enacted by one of his underlings.

Later, though, it becomes clear that El Jefe is just as trapped as those beneath him in this twisted hierarchy. There's a tragic side and reality to this man, who also came to the United States looking for opportunity for himself and his family, and instead, he is in this place—of covered windows, dim lights, a perennial haze, and a sense of absolute misery. Ramchandani gives El Jefe a few scenes alone, speaking on the phone to his son and looking as dejected as any of the workers beneath him, and, in case the point isn't apparent, a closing monologue filled with the rage of someone whose dreams have become an increasingly claustrophobic nightmare.

The point is obvious: Despite his attitude and actions, El Jefe isn't a villain. The real villains are all outside the sweatshop, convincing hopeful migrants that the only way to reach the United States is through this work and making millions of dollars by selling products made by way of the sweat and blood of modern-day slavery. It's a compelling and disturbing idea that, unfortunately, barely makes up the background of what is a fairly simplistic thriller about a complex issue, deserving of a story that addresses it in an honest way.

Instead, the movie revolves around Jesús (Ari Lopez), which is about as loaded a name as one could use for material like this. It doesn't need the metaphor (Assuring us that it is one, we learn that the boy was born on Easter Sunday), but Ramchandani provides it anyway. The whole thing feels similarly contrived and manipulative. When detailing a real-world issue that affects almost everyone—many without knowing it, as they buy things made by forced labor—in the world, those are likely the last qualities such a story should possess.

Most of this story comes down to watching Jesús and his fellow coerced workers hunched over sewing machines, being observed and intimidated by El Jefe and his managers, and occasionally facing the fists or belt of the boss' right-hand man Cesar (Andrés Delgado). By the way, he's studying for the SAT, hoping to be accepted into a college, so the notion of seeing El Jefe in a different light isn't an anomaly within the narrative.

When it comes, the violence is vicious, although Ramchandani shoots the buildup and aftermath of his protagonist being whipped in slow motion, as if such stylistic flair will somehow make the sight of a boy being bludgeoned more dramatic. There are two other sequences that attempt something similar. One is straight from any given horror movie, as Jesús sneaks out of the basement where he lives and works, searches the house for some sign of the girl (played by Renata Vaca) he likes, and has to hide under some floorboards from El Jefe, who notices a loose nail in the floor and starts pushing it toward the kid's eye. The other is a lengthy chase, which Ramchandani stages and shoots as a fake one-take, and such flourishes come across as a director showing off, instead of caring about what's right in the forefront of this material.

For what it is, the movie is somewhat well-made. Once it becomes apparent that its primary focus is repeating abject misery (with the romance and some dreams of Jesús as a famous soccer player as the only relief) and offering a few scenes of suspense (On a broader level, a pair of cops, played by Jason Patric and Adina Eady, get closer to the sweatshop but are thwarted every step forward), City of Dreams also reveals that it's hollow to the core. The movie's most daring and challenging elements exist only between the lines of its straightforward and calculated narrative.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products