Executive produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, director Gerardo Naranjo‘s Mexican thriller Miss Bala made a big splash at Cannes this past spring. Following a beauty queen (Stephanie Sigman) that gets roped into the underground drug trade, we praised the film as “a tour de force of action wrapped within the sub text of serious socio-economic issues.” With Fox International picking it up for domestic distribution, the first trailer has arrived and it looks just as intense as expected. Check it out below via indieWIRE.
Synopsis:
One of the most exciting young talents around, the Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo approaches the hot-button topic of drug violence through the perspective of an unlikely, unwitting heroine: a Tijuana beauty pageant contestant (Stephanie Sigman) who stumbles into the path of ruthless cartel operatives and corrupt officials. Although inspired by a true story, Miss Bala avoids docudrama cliches and tabloid sensationalism, and instead evokes the pervasive climate of fear and confusion that has enveloped daily life in some increasingly lawless pockets of northern Mexico. Using long takes and fluid, precise camera work, Naranjo fashions a highly original thriller: an anguished and harrowing mood piece with an undertow of bleakly absurdist humor and moments of heart-stopping action.
Miss Bala hits limited theaters October 14th after playing Toronto and New York.