''I'm No Longer Here'' ( es, Ya no estoy aquí) is a 2019 Mexican Spanish-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by Fernando Frías de la Parra, and starring Juan Daniel García Treviño and Angelina Chen. The script, completed in 2013, was originally published as a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

before being adapted as a full-length feature. It was released on 27 February 2020 to positive reviews from critics, before receiving a global

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

release on 27 May 2020. The film was also screened in several film festivals including the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and received several awards and nominations in international festivals. It was selected as the Mexican entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...

, making the shortlist of fifteen films, but was not nominated.

Plot

''The film is presented in a

nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, video games, and other narratives, where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways ...

, jumping between Ulises's experiences in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The following is a linear summary of the plot:'' In 2011, in the slums of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, a 17-year-old teenager named Ulises is the leader of a gang called ''Los Terkos''. They dedicate themselves to hanging out and following the counter-culture of ''Kolombia'': a lifestyle that consists of dancing and listening to "''Cumbia rebajada''" (a slowed version of

Cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

). ''Los Terkos'' members dress in bright, baggy clothes and sport homemade, eccentric hairdos. The majority of their time is spent attending dance parties and showing off their stylish colors. While attempting to retrieve some money from students outside a school so that ''Los Terkos'' can buy an

MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

, Ulises and his gang are confronted by a member of an organized criminal group called ''Los F'' who tries to scare them away. Later, as a different member of ''Los F'' is arrested by police, one of the ''Terkos'' steals the criminal's hand radio. That night, ''Los Terkos'' play a prank on ''Los F'' using the radio, only to be easily located by two armed members of ''Los F'' who threaten Ulises and his friend Jeremy to quit their relaxed gang lifestyle or be killed. The next day, Ulises accidentally witnesses the drive-by shooting of members of a fellow gang, ''Los Pelones'', by ''Los F''. One of the survivors, while badly wounded, notices Ulises holding the radio the ''Terkos'' stole from ''Los F'' earlier and incorrectly assumes that Ulises had set up the shooting. The survivor accuses Ulises of being a traitor and orders him to run away, threatening to kill his family if he does not. Ulises and his family flee the slum, and his mother uses some favors to smuggle Ulises into the United States illegally, demanding that he stay away from criminal activities. As Ulises leaves, one of the ''Terkos'', Chaparra, gives Ulises the MP3 device that ''Los Terkos'' had planned to purchase from a bootleg music salesman. After being smuggled inside a van across the border, Ulises arrives in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and lives with a group of day laborers who he soon gets into conflict with due to his lack of experience with manual labor, not knowing English, and his musical preferences. This leads to a fight with one of his roommates when they turn off the music during a party. After the fight, he leaves and takes a job cleaning the rooftop of a store owned by Mr. Loh, a Chinese man. His grandniece, Lin, is curious about Ulises and befriends him, wanting to learn more about his past way of life. She buys him a

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

to help him learn English and allows Ulises to live in a run-down shed on the roof. Ulises tries to earn some easy money by dancing to his Kumbia in a

subway station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

and in the streets, only to be scared away each time by

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

and homeless people. He attends a party with Lin but leaves alone after getting drunk on

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

and feeling homesick. He calls home but his mother rejects the idea of coming back, as ''Los F'' would kill him on sight. He goes back to a Latin bar he had gone to with his former roommates to seek advice from a Colombian sex worker he briefly connected with while there. After spending the night in her living room, she tells him that she cannot see him again, either at the bar or at her apartment. Ulises wanders the streets and buys a bottle of paint thinner. He inhales it before cutting his hair while intoxicated. Ulises is caught sleeping in the streets by the police and is deported back to Mexico after spending some months in prison. He travels back to his slum in Monterrey to find that ''Los F'' have taken control of the populace, with most of ''Los Terkos'' having joined the criminal organization. After attending the funeral of one of his old ''Terko'' friends, Ulises visits Jeremy. He finds that Jeremy has converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and spends his days preaching, in

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

form, to other boys in the slum. Despite an offer to stay with Jeremy, Ulises decides to live on the streets by himself. He dances one last time to the music on his MP3 device before the battery dies. In the distance, he sees a large group of neighborhood residents running towards the slums to hide from the police after deliberately blocking a major avenue as a distraction, allowing the members of ''Los F'' to run away and avoid arrest.

Cast

* Juan Daniel García Treviño as Ulises Sampiero *Jonathan Espinoza as Jeremy *Angelina Chen as Lin *Coral Puente as Chaparra *Adríana Arbelaez as Gladys *Leonardo Garxa as Pekesillo *Yahir Alday as Sudadera

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links