Loco

2020 • 80 minutes

About this movie

It'll Make You Crazy - Alex, a troubled young man is thrust into a dark underworld when he becomes a pawn in a brutal struggle between two drug lords for a new street drug called Loco. Alex's only hope comes from a beautiful girl, Lydia, who is also caught up in the scheme, and together they try to escape their dangerous world. A shocking surprise awaits them because nothing is what it seems to be in the world of Loco.

Ratings and reviews

Loco is an indie film that has a decent story line with some pretty good acting. I really enjoyed the film and thought it was a good 90 minute feature, especially for Justin, who this is his first feature length film being directed by him. Geffri Maya, who plays Lydia, was my favorite actor (actress) in the film. I really feel she stood out as far as the acting goes throughout the film, along with Craig Stark who plays Lester. Everyone did a good job but she came out on top in my opinion. Some scenes with Lester and Mikey felt unnatural with some of their mannerisms (just a couple), but I think these little things were more directors choice then the actors choice. I think watching the film a second time will be even better than the first to pick up on certain things I might have missed the first time. There are few scenes where audio was a little low and I couldn't quite tell if it was meant to be that way or not. Specifically in the interview/interrogation room, John Delaney (played by Gil Darnell), his voice was little muffled or lower then the rest of the film, including himself in later scenes outside the interview room. There is a short torture/beat up scene with Maestro Harrell, who plays Jason, where I felt the atmosphere, filming, and practical effects were very good to where my wife even turned a eyes and gasped for a moment. Some of the story jumps from one area to the next too fast and I didn't feel attached to all the characters to really care if someone was in trouble or not, so I wish there was a bit more character development to make you feel more for them throughout. Locations and set design was well done as well and feels natural for each of the characters. I loved watching the montage of them creating Loco and brought me back to watching some Breaking Bad, which no doubt had some influence on how these shots were filmed. Too bad they didn't show more of the effects of the drug on users and why it was soo popular, although by the end of the film you realize the real reasons for the FBI looking into the drug. The movie is definitely focused on the characters more then the drug side and I think that was a good direction to go in, I just wanted more. There were also some improbable story elements that feel forced, especially with the nice twist at the end, that didn't really catch me off guard but again took me away from being immersed into the story further. It isn't something that ruins the film by any means but I think some added/different scenes or slight changes might have pulled off the story and the twists a little better and I would have loved to see more of the rivalry between the different groups selling and distributing throughout the city, along with the FBI/Police being more active in certain parts of the film. The cinematography by Aaron Alps was great and the editing by Reggie Coleman of some action scenes and montages were done really well. I was never taken out of the story by bad make up or the costume design so Sasha Long, Christina Yu, and Regina Rosato did a great job as the characters felt somewhat lived in and natural with how they looked for the story. In addition the colorist, Aram Khachaturyan, did a great job of making the film feel it was all shot the same and had the they same styling throughout. For a feature length indie film, right around the 90 minutes mark, I think Justin Galindo did a great job and I hope to see more from him. Some of his short films are outstanding and his work with major studios is great and I look forward to seeing what he does next!

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