![]() ![]() Striking newcomer Juan Daniel García plays Ulises with limbs lithe and face hardened, a flexible dancer determined to look tough on the intimidating streets (stick through the credits, if Netflix lets you, to see García and the other non-pro actors in and out of character). The Cholombiano dancers have adopted a signature punk look as well, embodied by Ulises, who wears his hair bare in back, bleached on the top and tips, set off by long, slicked-down sideburns, like some kind of outlandish anime character. Since then, portrait photographers (and a popular Vice video) have brought global attention to the distinctive style of these marginalized young people, who have discovered a sense of freedom and self-expression dancing to manipulated cumbia - classic tracks that take on a completely different tempo when played at slower RPMs. Frías’ first draft predates the series by at least five years and was workshopped at the Sundance Lab back before many people were paying attention to the Cholombiano subculture the film depicts (or “Kolombia,” as it’s called here). The writer-director, best known for his work helming the Spanish-language HBO limited series “Los Espookys,” eschews comedy here, taking a more sober ethnographic approach. That’s the central misconception director Fernando Frías de la Parra sets out to challenge via stereotype-defying full-immersion portrait “I’m No Longer Here,” now available on Netflix. Technically, their little group is also a gang - they call themselves “Los Terkos,” dress alike in baggy clothes and sport magnificent hairstyles that turn the heads of total strangers - but these kids have come together out of a common interest not in crime, but in cumbia music. ![]() Even more than most Mexican cities, Monterrey has a notorious gang problem, often linked to street violence and drugs, but 17-year-old Ulises and his friends aren’t part of it. ![]()
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