TeenzTen
An action-packed slog
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Allissa
.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
LeonLouisRicci
The Title of this Film has a Dual Meaning. "Frontera" Translated Means "Border" and Frontier, as in the "Wild Frontier" can also be Inferred.Ed Harris and Amy Madigan are Seniors Living the "Good Life", and are Good People, on Their Ranch. It Happens that the Land "Borders" the Mexican Line and is a Pathway for Illegals to Make Their Way to the Promised Land. This is a Story about the Folks on Both Sides of the Border and Their Inter-Connectivity that Results from some Unintended Consequences. It Shows the Difficulty in Trusting the "Coyotes" and the also Difficult Trek that Many Make and are at the Mercy of the Desert and the Indigenous Population that Range from Quietly Indignant to Hostile.It is a Rich Little Movie that is Underplayed and Softly Explores the Situations from a Number of Perspectives and isn't Preachy. Effective and Engaging with Strong Acting and Excellent Cinematography, the Movie May be Slight in Solutions, but is Neutral in its Politics and Therefore is Commendable. Overall, it's Worth a Watch and is Nothing too Deep and for some that May Not be what is Needed in this Current, Divisive Political Landscape. The Movie Doesn't Take Sides and might Leaves some Viewers with a Frustrating Experience. But as a Modern Drama it is quite Good.
doggett-clint
I'm a big movie buff and I focus on the values of writing, production, and entertainment. I'm tired of all the buddy-cop, cookie cutter action movies these days. They are ALL THE SAME. I look for movies that have interesting ideas.Frontera was a welcome relief to my annoyance with the current movie industry. The writing was very well done and the pacing was perfect. I felt interested and engaged the entire time. I like how the Mexicans actually spoke Spanish. Even though there were a lot of subtitles, it was much more realistic. I loved the implications of importance placed on the family. The families of Miguel, Roy, and the sheriff are all placed in extremely difficult situations which must be overcome. I feel like most people could relate to these situations in some way-- I did. In addition, the things that Miguel's wife goes through sheds light on the circumstance and difficulties of those looking for a better life. The maltreatment and suffering they go through are real.Finally, I loved the ending. My heart was racing because I had established a personal affection for the characters. This movie was well worth my time.
TxMike
We were able to watch this movie via Netflix streaming movies. The illegal crossings of Mexicans into the USA has been big news in 2014 and this movie bridges on that. It does not attempt to encompass the issue but uses a small fraction of the issue to build this drama.It involves a basically hard-working an honest Mexican, Michael Peña as Miguel, who has been caught and deported before and tries again, he wants to find work so that he can make a better life for his family.His wife is played by Texas native, Eva Longoria as Paulina. Even though the actress was in her late 30s she was able to look much younger here. She is pregnant and also tries to cross but gets in with a bad band and is assaulted, along with a group of others.The central story with an older couple with a ranch on the border in New Mexico, Ed Harris as Roy, former sheriff, and his wife Amy Madigan as Olivia. When she rides her horse out that day she doesn't return alive. The Mexicans discovered nearby are accused of her murder and locked up. But Roy, as distraught as he is, has an other idea what happened. Unravelling that mystery is what the movie is all about.Well-acted and well-written, good movie. Harris is his usual reliable self.SPOILERS: In a parallel story we see three young men go out on Roy's property, and near the border are looking for Mexicans to shoot at, presumably to scare them. But when Olivia was talking to Miguel and his buddy a shot rang out, spooked the horse, she fell off and split her head on a large sharp rock. One of the young men was the son of the current sheriff and the sheriff's high-powered rifle was used. Roy recovered shell casings matching what the sheriff reloaded with. Getting the boys to finally come clean cleared the Mexicans, Roy rode Miguel to the border fence on his property, asked Miguel to (from the Mexico side) keep it in repair and Roy would pay him, they would meet a certain time each week. But a rogue sniper had Miguel in his cross-hairs, was about to shoot him when Roy is shown with a pistol to the sniper's head. The sniper's 4X4 had a sticker on the back window "Americans doing the job the government won't" on an elongated American flag background.
jimbo-53-186511
Miguel (Michael Pena) & Jose (Michael Ray Escamilla) have crossed the border from Mexico to the US in an attempt to look for work. Once they cross the border, they stumble across Olivia (Amy Madigan) who is out riding her horse. Olivia offers the 2 men some water and advises them that a lorry arrives and picks up those that aren't afraid of hard work. Shortly after, 3 youths begin firing at the 2 Mexicans in an attempt to scare them. However, things go wrong when Olivia comes back to investigate what's happening and her horse gets scared by the gun fire and throws Olivia to the ground and she hits her head on a rock. Tragically, Olivia dies and Miguel is the prime suspect in her death as he was the only one at the scene when her husband Roy (Ed Harris) finds her.The premise is a fairly good one on paper unfortunately once the first 15-20 minutes are out of the way, the only things that the writers serve up are boredom and credibility problems. Let me explain...At the start of the film, Miguel is arrested and charged with first degree murder. Now in the 'real' world this would only happen in the face of real evidence. Which begs the question - what evidence do the police have against Miguel? Oh yeah... he was there.. that's it. Circumstantial evidence? They never have any proof that he killed her yet they're still able to bring him in and keep him imprisoned??? On what planet would that happen? It's amazing that Miguel never filed for wrongful arrest.Jose is an important witness to the incident that occurred, but is only featured in the first half of the film (strange considering how important that he was in the context of the narrative).Another problem with this film is that it's so boring; I think it's really disappointing that we have to wait an hour before we actually see any detective work; it's at this point when former sheriff Roy starts to examine the scene of his wife's death and finds the bullets lodged in the sand near the crime scene, he also manages to work out exactly where the shooters were positioned (quite how he manages to do this with such accuracy is never explained). He then gets grief from the actual sheriff for moving the bullets from the crime scene. I then thought 'Well if you morons had done your job right then you would have found the bullets and figured everything out anyway'.We are then treated to a sub plot involving Miguel's wife being kidnapped and held to ransom which for me was unnecessary, added little to the film and felt like it was included merely to pad out the running time.Later in the film it turns out that the guy who shot at Olivia was the sheriff's son - at this point I thought 'Great' - I hope those punks get what they deserve. What really annoyed me is that we never got any closure on the most fundamental issue of the film - what happened to Sean and his friends? Did they get their comeuppance? But no, the writers decided not to bother telling us which left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong, ambiguous endings can be OK sometimes, but when there's no closure on the 1 thing that held my interest in the film it made me angry.I've always been someone who can forgive credibility problems if a film can do one basic thing; entertain, but this film couldn't even get that right. It bored me to tears, had a very disjointed narrative, and it also had a very unsatisfying ending.Ending on a positive note, I thought that Harris and Pena were terrific which is a real testament to both actors when you look at the shocking material that they had to work with.
