Lowriders | A Latino graffiti artist goes cruising for a bruising in East LA

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Lowriders Theo Rossi Gabriel Chavarria
(Image credit: © 2016 Universal Studios. All)

‘People don’t like the American Dream to look different.’

This LA-set drama offers a fascinating glimpse of the city’s lowrider culture – that Mexican-American tradition of cruising the streets in customised cars that bounce up and down on hydraulics and sport flamboyant murals. Unfortunately, the film’s clichéd, melodramatic plot – in which a scrappy young graffiti artist (Gabriel Chavarria) finds himself torn between his volatile ex-con brother (Theo Rossi) and their recovering alcoholic father (Demián Bechir) – is not nearly so interesting. Still, there are some good performances – notably by Bechir and by Eva Longoria as the hero’s sympathetic stepmother – and some telling insights into Chicano pride and identity.

Certificate 12. Runtime 96 mins. Director Ricardo de Montreuil

Lowriders debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 8 January. Available on DVD & Digital from Universal Pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POLwiL3DHwA

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Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.