La Familia

In a violent, slummy neighborhood in Caracas, a 12-year-old boy named Pedro (Reggie Reyes) gets caught up in the macho swagger of the young gang community. When a new kid in town pulls a gun, Pedro disarms him during a fight and accidentally stabs him in the neck. The moment Pedro’s single father, Andres (Giovanny García), learns of this, he orders his son to pack so they can leave the city pronto—or risk a retaliatory slaying. La Familia follows father and son as they simply try to survive with dwindling resources and opportunities. As Andres takes on one low-paying job after another (fired from a restaurant at one point due to theft), Pedro gets an eyeful of the real world, which does not conform to the easy arrogance and naivete of his crew back in Caracas. One can see early on where writer-director Gustavo Rondón Córdova is taking his briskly paced narrative, as his two leads sink incrementally into complete helplessness and homelessness. But predictability doesn’t make this drama any less compelling, as it wordlessly conveys Andres’s passionate singlemindedness to save his son, while also suggesting a growing awareness in Pedro that maybe his dad would be better off without a fugitive to protect. Recommended. (T. Keogh)