Northwest Film Forum

It’s a classic story that always comes as a surprise: you and your brother steal Dad’s car, and disaster descends sooner than you can say “bad idea.” But in Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas’ film debut, it’s not Dad’s car—it’s grandpa’s horse. Evaristo and Tony, young Tarahumara Indians in northwest Mexico, come home from their final year at boarding school to an assignment from their grandfather: deliver a package to a town far away. Tony convinces Evaristo to “borrow” their grandfather’s horse for the journey, but they soon lose both the horse and each other, turning their mission into an odyssey across the Sierra Tarahumara’s civilization and wilderness. Nonprofessional actors and austere cinematography—who needs fancy camerawork in the Sierra Tarahumara?—make Cochochi an adventurous twist on a Latin American subgenre.