Review of Miss Bala (2011) by Luna M — 31 Jan 2012

A skinny beauty pageant contestant (sincerely played by Stephanie Sigman) becomes unwillingly embroiled with drug runners in the firecracker Mexican crime thriller "Miss Bala". Taking advantage of our aspiring model's slender frame, a brutal drug lord forces her to aid in smuggling drug money over the border, not to mention exploit her sexually.

Writer/director Gereardo Naranjo constantly keeps us as confused and uncertain as our frightened heroine regarding the complicated politics of the drug dealers and their constantly shifting allegiances.

We're never sure what chain of events will occur next. We only know that it'll be violent. This vague but acrid intuition is what makes the film such a tense piece of storytelling. Naranjo relishes in long takes.

Almost excessively so, but they're all terrifically staged.