Life and Nothing More (2018) - Antonio Méndez Esparza

Naturalist, lived-in, and minimalist in its designs, Life and Nothing More is a potent reflection on life under the poverty line, weaponizing the coming of age narrative to deliver a genuine study of the socio-economic anxiety exemplified its main protagonist, a character whose fate feels predestined due to the environment in which he inhabits. Life and Nothing More is supremely well balanced, a film which doesn't feel reliant on making any type of deconstruction, instead it opts to simply be a reflection on this way of life and systemic challenges it presents against a better future. A film which doesn't make excuses for its characters nor one which denies structural problems, Life and Nothing More is a genuinely great drama void of sentimentality or forced thematics.