Check Out the Trailer

Chris Weitz takes the general premise of Vittorio de Sica’s THE BICYCLE THIEF and transports the action of the neo-realist classic from 1940s Italy to 2010s Los Angeles. Like THIEF, a father and son search their city for the man who stole a possession crucial for their job. In the new take on the story, Weitz looks at the experience of illegal immigrants.

Carlos Galindo (Damian Bichir, CHE) snuck into the U.S. years ago with his young wife, because that is what people did in his small village in Mexico. Since she has left him to care for his son Luis (Jose Julian), who is now 15 years old. Carlos works as a gardner for Blasco (Joaquin Cosio, QUANTUM OF SOLACE), who owns a truck and the equipment. Blasco has saved enough to buy a farm in Mexico and wants to sell his entire business to Carlos, who is reluctant because as an illegal simply getting pulled over for a broken tail light would get him deported. But the gang filled neighborhood he lives in doesn’t promise the future he wants for his son, so he borrows money from his reluctant sister. Now the boss he needs to pick a new employee, so he goes to the corner where day workers wait and choses Santiago (Carlos Linares, QUINCEANERA), who waits for Carlos to shimy up a palm tree and then steals the truck.

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Buy It Now!

Read my review of ATTACK THE BLOCK

While it’s not perfect, Sony does bring a handsome transfer of this low budget production, which is destined to become a cult classic. The MPEG-4 AVC encoded Blu-ray is true to its source. The color palette is desaturated and dark due to the low light. This lessens detail in the outdoor night sequences, as well as suffers from limited pixelation, but the picture becomes richer in the brighter indoor scenes. Film grain is natural and unobtrusive. Black levels, however, are inconsistent, but shine in the inky black of the alien invaders, which are meant to look like black holes running across the screen. And boy do the glow in the dark teeth of the aliens pop.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless track is very well mixed with some genuine dynamic moments. Dialogue is clean and balanced with the score and sound effects well. This is crucial considering the thick South London accents of the characters. Ambience is subtle but effective. Directionality is surprising at times as fireworks rocket from the front to back speakers or the ape wolf aliens leap across the front sound field. The LFE track booms with the dramatic score as the gang returns to the apartment complex.

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