I’M GONNA EXPLODE (VOY A EXPLOTAR) World Cinema

After his acclaimed second feature, DRAMA/ME X, Gerardo Naranjo returns to AFI FEST with this compelling love story of two 15-year-olds who begin to discover themselves while learning about each other. Set in Guanajuato, Mexico , the film tells the story of two troubled, rebellious teenagers. When Roman is caught plotting to kill the head priests of his school, it’s clear what he’s really after is attention from his father, a right-wing politician. Meanwhile, after a night of drunkenness, Maru, a 15-year-old loner, wakes up in a pickup truck parked in on open field, not knowing what happened the night before . Her only solace is her diary and the imaginary world she creates for herself. When she sees Roman feigning his own hanging during a school talent show, she decides he’s the person to rescue her from the tediousness of her everyday life. Meeting in detention, these new partners in crime decide to disappear, setting up comp in a place where no one will find them. Saturated with cinematographer Tobias Datum’s sumptuous visuals, l’M GONNA EXPLODE is a hallucinatory triumph of composition and kinetic editing that employs a formidable visual lexicon, including a nod to Godard’s PIERROT LE FOU. Still, this is clearly a work by an original talent, buoyed by pitch-perfect performances from two promising young actors. The result is one of the most thrilling, innovative adventures in contemporary cinema.