Review of We Are What We Are (2010) by Mike M — 11 Sep 2010
With the exception of Enrico Chapela's self-consciously baroque score, it's a restrained debut, most likely - in its conjunction of horror and social realism - to end up garnering the title of this year's "Let the Right One In".
If anything, "We Are What We Are" is even more self-contained, holding back on the grue until the final, dog-eat-dog feeding frenzy, and limiting its movements to the family's grim retreat (the least welcoming abode since the farmhouse in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre") and a small handful of grimy streets.
In doing so, it perhaps lacks the flair - the X (certificate) factor - that would guarantee a breakout success; unlike [Guillermo] Del Toro, who from the off demonstrated a marked facility with both, Grau proves more persuasive with ideas than images, and his film is visually rote, accordingly.
Nonetheless, it's a credible, quietly impressive portrait of a society going to hell, and of a family unit having to resort to desperate measures just to survive.
This review of We Are What We Are (2010) was written by Mike M on 11 Sep 2010.
We Are What We Are has generally received mixed reviews.
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