#Coyote lake how to#

The first ten or so minutes of writer and director Sara Seligman‘s dark independent chiller Coyote Lake are truly disturbing, though not like you might expect. For these reasons, Cryptic Rock give Coyote Lake 4 of 5 stars.Coyote Lake is a 2019 thriller about a small bed-and-breakfast near the US/Mexico border where two unwanted guests arrive, threatening the safety of everyone. Intelligently done and with an artful subtlety from its creators and cast, Coyote Lake is a Crime Drama/Thriller that is apt to linger in your mind long after its end credits roll. Though one can be weighed heavily by the subject matter, it’s certainly worth reiterating that this film features a phenomenal cast who put their all into their performances, delivering a powerfully haunting experience. It’s a bleak view into the humanity of a current crisis in our country, one that raises pertinent questions. In truth, Coyote Lake is not a feel-good film that will leave you with a warm fuzzy goodness in your heart. Furthermore, though he is clearly a criminal, he is also the one to raise the most important ethical question that causes Ester to reconsider her entire existence. Scrape away all the layers and Paco is just like Ester: a boy who wants something more out of life. Velez’s commendable performance brings a humanity to these drug-runners, allowing us to see that they often times share vast similarities with ourselves. He, much like Teresa, is merely doing what he feels is best for his family. While he is a gangster and the penultimate “boy from the wrong side of the tracks,” we are never fully able to dislike Paco. It takes the arrival of Velez’s Paco to turn the entire situation-along with Ester and Teresa’s relationship-upside down. While one might assume that this tale is centered in a current hot spot of socio-political debate thanks to a lovely wall, this story’s focus is instead placed onto the everyday people who are merely trying to survive amidst a turf war between drug-runners and human traffickers. Instead, the central core of Coyote Lake is the human toll amassed by the situation along the US-Mexico border.

#Coyote lake how to#

It also features the acting talents of Charlie Weber ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, How to Get Away with Murder series).īilled as a Thriller, the film-which does contain some Spanish and, therefore, provides subtitles-reads more like a blend of Crime Drama and Thriller, leaning more heavily on its dramatic aspects than any action or thrills. Ultimately, all of their lives will be turned upside down in a matter of days.Ĭlocking in at 93 minutes, Coyote Lake is a feature-length debut for talented Director Sara Seligman ( Diego short 2014, Kosnin short 2016), and was written by Seligman with Thomas James Bond ( Hawkins Hill short 2010, The Left Hook short 2012). Their arrival sparks something much greater into motion as Ester begins to develop feelings for one of the men. Immediately, a frightened and conflicted Paco (Andres Velez: Southland series, A Good Life short 2018) begins waving a gun around, demanding that Teresa treat his friend Ignacio’s (Manny Perez: Bella 2006, Homeland series) wound. Aided by Teresa’s mute live-in assistant Dirk (Neil Sandilands: The Americans series, The Flash series), the pair routinely welcome “coyotes,” human traffickers and drug-runners, into their home, and then drug, rob, and rid the world of their wretched souls.Īll is running fairly routine when, on one quiet evening, two of the local cartel gangsters turn up on their doorstep.

Bright-eyed and hopeful young Ester (Camila Mendes: Riverdale series, The Perfect Date 2019) and her jaded mother, Teresa (Adriana Barraza: Babel 2006, Drag Me to Hell 2009), run a small, remote boarding house in the woods along the US-Mexico border near Coyote Lake.