WORLD PREMIERE @ 2012 SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST / IN COMPETITION / AUSTIN, USA

2012 PIFAN PUCHON FILM FESTIVAL / SOUTH KOREA

2012 NEW YORK LATINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL / NEW YORK, USA

2012 RIO DE JANEIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL / BRAZIL

2012 L’ETRANGE FESTIVAL / PARIS, FRANCE

2012 ATHENS FILM FESTIVAL / GREECE

2013 BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL / USA

2013 RIVIERA MAYA FILM FESTIVAL / MEXICO

2013 MARCH 29 / DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT / 2 WEEK THEATRICAL / LOS ANGELES, CA

Set amid the noisy outskirts of some unnamed Mexican metropolis, Los Chidos tells the story of the Gonzales Family. Shady proprietors of a tire repair junkyard sandwiched between two busy freeways, the Gonzales clan's days are spent wallowing in lazy, mindless routine. Barely able to converse without resorting to misogyny and homophobia, the six of them pass the time glued to a decrepit television and stuffing their faces with tacos, preying on the occasional unlucky motorist. When a confused American industrialist happens into the shop with a flat tire, the family's place in the shame-free food chain is called into question. With his vehicle "out" for repairs indefinitely, a strange scenario unfolds whereby the pale stranger finds himself welcomed into their unpleasant fold. To complicate matters, he soon becomes infatuated with the newlywed bride of the family's neighbor. As a new love blossoms, dark secrets begin emerging, and both the family and their guest are in for some surprises. Los Chidos is at once both delightfully funny and desperately depraved; a satirical, sociopolitical commentary on the dynamic relationships between exploiter and exploited.—SK

Review: Omar Rodriguez Lopez's 'Los Chidos' Is Wild, Wacky, Weird, Bloody & Bold

By Katie Walsh | Indiewire

https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-omar-rodriguez-lopezs-los-chidos-is-wild-wacky-weird-bloody-bold-100122/

Not everyone is going to be ready for the ride through “Los Chidos” that director Omar Rodriguez Lopez offers up. But his willingness to scare off a few of the faint of heart preserves his commitment to a truly bold and unique vision and an aesthetic all his own. This is the fifth feature film from the Mars Volta guitarist and only the second to play at a festival, and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Could this be the birth of a new auteur?

Meet the Gonzalez family. They run a tire shop in Guadalajara and lead a life of wanton laziness together, hitting the bar as a family, talking shit about everyone and slurping up the delicious tacos Mama makes for them every day. Meet Rulo, the Gonzalez brother’s friend. He’s newly wed to Alma, not to mention an abusive sociopath and transvestite having an affair with the local bar owner. Alma is so dedicated in her love for Rulo that he easily manipulates her into the emotional, physical and sexual abuse he subjects her to. Meet Kim. He’s a wayward American who stumbles into the Gonzalez family tire shop with a busted car and shakes up the community’s dynamic in a way that will leave them (and him) forever changed.

Not everyone is going to be ready for the ride through “Los Chidos” that director Omar Rodriguez Lopez offers up. But his willingness to scare off a few of the faint of heart preserves his commitment to a truly bold and unique vision and an aesthetic all his own. This is the fifth feature film from the Mars Volta guitarist and only the second to play at a festival, and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Could this be the birth of a new auteur?Meet the Gonzalez family. They run a tire shop in Guadalajara and lead a life of wanton laziness together, hitting the bar as a family, talking shit about everyone and slurping up the delicious tacos Mama makes for them every day. Meet Rulo, the Gonzalez brother’s friend. He’s newly wed to Alma, not to mention an abusive sociopath and transvestite having an affair with the local bar owner. Alma is so dedicated in her love for Rulo that he easily manipulates her into the emotional, physical and sexual abuse he subjects her to. Meet Kim. He’s a wayward American who stumbles into the Gonzalez family tire shop with a busted car and shakes up the community’s dynamic in a way that will leave them (and him) forever changed.

As the blood starts to splatter (and oh, it splatters alright), it does so in a cheerfully and enthusiastically dark way. But this is not the kind of movie where you are laughing and cheering at the violence, but cringing and quaking and covering your eyes. There are a few truly shocking and disturbing moments in this rollicking dark romp, prompting a few walkouts during the screening. Yes, it might scare off some viewers. But those viewers will be missing out on a distinct, specific and truly creative voice and vision. Each shocking moment has a specific purpose and symbolic meaning within the film; it’s not just Divine eating dog shit in “Pink Flamingos” for the sake of celebrating trash, it’s a specific icon within the story that furthers its meaning. Yes, some of the symbols may be a little on the nose, but that’s not what you are going to be complaining about while the film is unfolding on screen.

Not everyone is going to be ready for the ride through “Los Chidos” that director Omar Rodriguez Lopez offers up. But his willingness to scare off a few of the faint of heart preserves his commitment to a truly bold and unique vision and an aesthetic all his own. This is the fifth feature film from the Mars Volta guitarist and only the second to play at a festival, and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Could this be the birth of a new auteur?Meet the Gonzalez family. They run a tire shop in Guadalajara and lead a life of wanton laziness together, hitting the bar as a family, talking shit about everyone and slurping up the delicious tacos Mama makes for them every day. Meet Rulo, the Gonzalez brother’s friend. He’s newly wed to Alma, not to mention an abusive sociopath and transvestite having an affair with the local bar owner. Alma is so dedicated in her love for Rulo that he easily manipulates her into the emotional, physical and sexual abuse he subjects her to. Meet Kim. He’s a wayward American who stumbles into the Gonzalez family tire shop with a busted car and shakes up the community’s dynamic in a way that will leave them (and him) forever changed.

It’s not just that he thrusts his audience into unknown cinematic stylistic waters, it’s that everything he puts on screen has a purpose toward serving his message. He is vocal about stating that the film is about misogynistic Latino culture, and it is a true satire of those pervasive social ills that is both disturbing and gleeful in its violence. Regardless of whether this is a film you can handle, it’s a perfect example of the kind of bold new vision that cinephiles should be championing. [B+]

LOS CHIDOS

By Noah Lee | Film Threat

https://filmthreat.com/uncategorized/los-chidos/

Sometimes movies or art are simple entertainment, riddled with surface layer jokes, basic emotional responses and simplistic tugging of heartstrings. We’re unfortunately inundated with these types of movies year after year and they continue to be presented with awards when the Globes or Oscars roll around. Then we have times when a film maker is exploring something deeper, touching on highly personal matters that have evolved through upbringing, cultural history or external factors. The things that make us who we are today as a society, whether they may good or bad. These films can be told with extreme artistic merit and button pushing imagery, for example when John Waters makes a statement on sexuality or gender roles.

With “Los Chidos,” filmmaker, musician and artist Omar Rodriguez Lopez is doing very much the same thing. He has wrapped an exploration around the nature of Latino male culture and its negative stereotypes, such as homophobia, classicism and misogyny around a bizarre, humorous and graphically explicit tale of a family who run a tire repair shop in Guadalajara, Mexico. It touches not only on the negativity of culture but also of religion, in this case Catholicism, and how women are overlooked in many of the ritual practices.

Los Chidos themselves are a family who live a selfish life of sloth, turning away even the hint of work as they sit in their garage watching television all day and gorging themselves on their mother’s famous tacos. Tacos made with the tenderest of meat and mixed with her special blend of mayonnaise and ketchup. Their cousin Rulo has recently married Alma, although at night when he’s not drugging her and leaving her to be taken advantage of by his friends, he’s dressing up as a woman to run off to his male lover.

Sometimes movies or art are simple entertainment, riddled with surface layer jokes, basic emotional responses and simplistic tugging of heartstrings. We’re unfortunately inundated with these types of movies year after year and they continue to be presented with awards when the Globes or Oscars roll around. Then we have times when a film maker is exploring something deeper, touching on highly personal matters that have evolved through upbringing, cultural history or external factors. The things that make us who we are today as a society, whether they may good or bad. These films can be told with extreme artistic merit and button pushing imagery, for example when John Waters makes a statement on sexuality or gender roles.

With “Los Chidos,” filmmaker, musician and artist Omar Rodriguez Lopez is doing very much the same thing. He has wrapped an exploration around the nature of Latino male culture and its negative stereotypes, such as homophobia, classicism and misogyny around a bizarre, humorous and graphically explicit tale of a family who run a tire repair shop in Guadalajara, Mexico. It touches not only on the negativity of culture but also of religion, in this case Catholicism, and how women are overlooked in many of the ritual practices.

Los Chidos themselves are a family who live a selfish life of sloth, turning away even the hint of work as they sit in their garage watching television all day and gorging themselves on their mother’s famous tacos. Tacos made with the tenderest of meat and mixed with her special blend of mayonnaise and ketchup. Their cousin Rulo has recently married Alma, although at night when he’s not drugging her and leaving her to be taken advantage of by his friends, he’s dressing up as a woman to run off to his male lover.

The matriarch of Los Chidos believes in all her heart that every word of the bible is true and wishes nothing but heavenly grace for her family in the afterlife. With that comes her disbelief that her youngest boy could possibly be a homosexual, despite his machinations towards the more handsome males at their nightly drinking hole. Their lives are all upset when a gringo, Kim, comes rolling into their lives with a destroyed tire. Over the next couple of weeks Los Chidos and Kim become close friends and share a journey resulting in their own sorts of revelations, some stronger than others.

“Los Chidos,” however, never plays itself as a direct narrative. Rodriguez Lopez has creative a movie that challenges the viewer, not only in its obvious graphic nature (there are scenes of abuse, golden showers, fecalphilia, a dismembered penis, hints of incest and more) but also in his production of the film itself. The entire movie was re-dubbed in post and he plays with gender swapping of voices. It isn’t always obvious and at first it is quite jarring, but once you adjust, the effect succeeds in his intent to make it feel like an old Italian or Latin work of cinema. To assist in capturing this feel, Rodriguez Lopez utilizes several of Ennio Morricone’s scores throughout the film, several of which should be instantly familiar to any fans of the old spaghetti westerns. The entire package makes for a heady “what the f**k” kind of film that is certainly not for everyone, but the end result is actually quite funny. It’s an absurdist comedy that slashes its way through the psyche, bringing confrontation with expected reactions and forces the viewer to face their conceits.

The actors of “Los Chidos” were brought together by Rodriguez Lopez from a theater troupe in Guadalajara and they provide a fearless presence on screen. We are even treated to a glance at their actual act midway through the film when Los Chidos and Kim decide to head out to see a performance troupe, in one of their many moments of bonding and transformation. Kim Stodel, the single English speaking lead, of the same moniker, has been a long time collaborator with the director and in this film puts forth a charismatic, likable character. One that never really questions his situations but always seems content to go along with the insanity and never once does it feel disingenuous or confusing. Kim blends into the mash of madness like he’s part of the herd.

Certainly “Los Chidos” is not for everyone, but for those film fans that are unafraid to play with their expectations of narrative and who want to spend some time pondering intent in a fable representing something far deeper, they will certainly be rewarded. It’s a tough movie in some respects, but one that brings enough fantasy, humor, and oddity that it is like very few things ever put on screen and in today’s day and age that is something the cinematic world is direly lacking.

Rotten Tomatoes

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/los_chidos_2012

Audience Member

The review

This is the biggest, most offensive piece of shit I've ever seen. Fuck you and your offensive racist movie.Content collapsed.

Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars Date01/31/23

Los Chidos By Peter Debruge | Variety

https://variety.com/2012/scene/markets-festivals/los-chidos-1117947263/

Nobody does bad taste like John Waters, as bottom-shelf south-of-the-border imitation “Los chidos” proves, peddling shock to scant amusement. Tracking a gringo’s disruptive influence on a family inbred and ill behaved enough to rival “Pink Flamingos'” filthiest people alive, this abusively unfunny Mexploitation pic practically begs to offend with scenes too scatological to recap here. Such outrageousness has become so commonplace these days that even the most extreme gags seem little more than silly, while the Spanish-language plot linking its gonzo setpieces is too choppy and convoluted to follow, squelching whatever notoriety might attract auds beyond Latino homevid.

Bad luck leads American opportunist Kim (Kim Stodel) to the Gonzales family’s Guadalajara auto shop, where he haggles about getting his bad teeth and “explodo” tire fixed. While waiting, Kim falls for a kept beauty whose cruel, cross-dressing husband rents her to midnight rapists. In his attempt to satirize Mexican machismo, writer-director (and the Mars Volta guitarist) Omar Rodriguez Lopez presents all the men as gay, the women as whores, then smothers their poorly dubbed antics in music. It all builds to the perfect metaphor, that of pulling teeth.