Johnny 100 Pesos

Inspired by a true event in Chile, this ‘90s version of Rebel Without a Cause opens like your basic action crime thriller: a group of misfit thugs botch a heist, and end up trapped inside a high rise condo with a handful of hostages. But the story's focus soon shifts towards political/media satire, as frenzied journalists try to scoop each other tracing the biography of the youngest hood, Johnny (Armando Araiza), a 17-year-old schoolboy who suddenly becomes a live TV event ("Save a Chilean Youth..."). While uneven (good media satire is very difficult to pull off, since the media already provides its own), Johnny 100 Pesos is an interesting film; underneath all the suspense and politics, there's a James Dean rebel story here (even if it's portrayed at a comic book level): Johnny's a confused, scared, 17-year-old virgin whose contending with raging hormones (one of the hostages is a woman), anger against (fill-in-the-blank) and the fear of going to jail. A strong optional purchase. (R. Pitman)