Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Sin Nombre Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson April 22, 2023

Sin Nombre retains the same raw power and fresh energy it possessed in 2009 when it took the Sundance Film Festival by storm, earning the Directing Reward for Cary Joji Fukunaga (his maiden feature) and Cinematography Award for Adriano Goldman. Fukunaga's narrative tells two stories that he intertwines. In Honduras, Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is hoping to make it to Rio Grande where she intends to cross the border illegally with her father and a cousin. They have relatives waiting at a safe haven in New Jersey. Sayra hardly knows her papa because he lived in America for a long time before being deported to his native land. Willy (aka "El Caspar," who's played by Edgar Flores) lives in Tapuchula, Mexico where he's a member of the Mara Salvatrucha Brotherhood gang. His closest amigo is a 12-year-old boy (Kristyan Ferrer) named Smiley, which is ironic since he never smiles. Smiley is an orphan who lives with his grandmother. She prefers that Caspar stay away from her grandson because he will bring trouble. Caspar recruits Smiley to join Mara Salvatrucha. He introduces the kid to its fully-tattooed leader, the vicious Lil' Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejia). Smiley's initiation into gang life is also a brutal indoctrination. He is punched, kicked and stomped on, causing to him develop a hardened masculinity at a prepubescent stage. Caspar teaches him to operate a special gun where he's instructed by Lil' Mago to execute a man who's allegedly lied. Caspar has a strong amorous relationship with his beautiful girlfriend, Martha Marlene (Diana Garcia), who he tries to keep away from the gang. But Martha's curiosity, coupled with Lil' Mago's interest in her connection to Caspar, leads to a pivotal moment at the local cemetery. Lil' Mago and Caspar head for the rail lines of Chiapas where they hop on top of the freight cars with the intent to ransack the riders' pockets. Caspar meets Sayra there and makes a fateful decision.

The opening images of Sin Nombre show Caspar either gazing at a wall mural or through his open doorway. A picture-postcard shot of trees and warm, autumnal leaves command his attention. Caspar stares at an idealized world that's free of violence and bloodshed. Edgar Flores portrays this protagonist as a vigilante-hero. Fukunaga constructs a dual tension in the second half: Will Caspar be able to help Sayra and her kin cross the US/Mexican border? Also, Caspar has a bounty placed on him so the more perplexing quandary is: can he escape his real pursuers as much as any border agents who may confront him? Sin Nombre is an equally devastating portrait of Mexican gang life as it is a gripping immigration drama. Todd McCarthy, then writing for Variety in 2009, makes the salient point in his review that “Sin nombre differs vastly from previous films about immigrants in that its focus is on the problems facing them before they get anywhere near the U.S." This is what makes it a doubly compelling thriller.

Sin Nombre Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This past fall, Universal Studios finally brought Sin Nombre to US Blu-ray, a dozen years following British label Revolver Entertainment's 2010 BD-25, which my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov covered. Whereas the Revolver employs the VC-1 codec (with an average video bitrate of 22143 kbps), the Universal employs the MPEG-4 AVC codec (with a mean video bitrate of 23211 kbps for the feature). (Both the German and Scandinavian Blu-rays also utilize the latter codec.) Goldman shot the picture on 35 mm Fujifilm. For DLP projection, the DI was mastered in 2K. Sin Nombre appears in its original exhibition ratio of 2.35:1. I own the Revolver disc and this appears to be the same transfer that Svet reviewed. Primary colors have that "pop" to them. Skin complexions are warm. I studied Universal's transfer on a small 4K monitor and the encode produces a smoother picture in-motion when I compared it with Revolver's image.

Screenshot #s 1-17, 19, 21, 23, & 25 = Universal Studios 2022 MPEG-4 AVC
Screenshot #s 18, 20, 22, & 24 = Revolver Entertainment 2010 VC-1

The Universal disc provides eleven scene selections. (The Revolver disc has a dozen chapters.)

Sin Nombre Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (3625 kbps, 24-bit) from the original Spanish sound track. The Revolver has a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround mix (3919 kbps, 24-bit) in Spanish and a Spanish Dolby Digital Audio 2.0 Stereo (448 kbps, 48 kHz), each of which Svet discusses. The two lossless mixes sound similar to my ears. Spoken words are clear. Dialogue is specifically placed on the front or right speaker depending on the speaker's location on the edge or outside the frame. City noises, gunshots, and train sounds are nicely spaced. Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos's diverse score sounds crisp on Universal's uncompressed track. Although the Lakeshore Records CD is out of print, the digital album is well worth getting to hear apart from the movie. In the cues "Veracruz" and "Guatemala Crossing," Zarvos effectively mixes in the accordion with shakers. In "The Journey," he combines accordion with guitar riffs, warm strings, and perhaps a xylophone. Drums play a prominent role in the title tune. For the suspense-filled cues, Zarvos applies ominous strings and dissonant brass chords.

Notes about Universal's subtitles: as Svet noted in his review, the Revolver has compulsory English subtitles which are placed well into the image track (see frame grab #22 in my review). Universal has chosen only to include English SDH, which can be switched off. Not every speaker is identified in ALL CAPS. For two-character shots with dialogue, Universal has double-spaced the words (see Screenshot # 15). It displays the same spacing when the gang members sing in unison to Lil' Mago's chant (see frame grab #17). If you have a UHD Blu-ray player with several subtitle display options, you might be able to get the standard subs to display beneath the picture and only along the black border like I was able to do. On my Panasonic UHD player, I was able to get a majority of the dialogue beneath the image track without cutting off the font type at all. (1) I pressed the Option key on my UHD player's remote control; (2) in the Operation Menu, I scrolled down to Subtitle Settings; (3) I selected Subtitle Position; and (4) I decreased the placement value to -17, which fit all the words on my screen at the very bottom.

Sin Nombre Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Universal disc retains the two extras on Revolver Entertainment's BD-25. Unfortunately, other bonus materials on Euro Video's Region B Blu-ray aren't included here. The German disc contains two interviews with Cary Fukunaga totaling about twenty minutes and the director's short film, Victoria para chino (2004). They have optional German subtitles.

• Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Cary Fukunaga and Producer Amy Kaufman - Fukunaga is the primary speaker on this feature-length track. He has a warm, low-key, and inviting tone and is a pleasure to listen to. He discusses the locations and his cast. Kaufman contributes other info about the production. Fukunaga and Kaufman each speak in English. The track isn't subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (10:43, upscaled to 1080p) - a compilation of thirteen scenes that were omitted from the final cut of Sin Nombre. They're numbers probably correspond to the placement they had in the shooting script. They appear in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and, unlike the Revolver Entertainment disc (where they're only letterboxed), these are shown in anamorphic widescreen. The video is upconverted from an interlaced source (likely 576i). It features a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track (192 kbps). Only eight of the excised scenes are subtitled in English. The burned-in subs have a dark yellow font and appear at the top of the bottom border right below the picture. Several are quite short. Some of them add extra details to subplots and are interesting to see.

Sin Nombre Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sin Nombre (2009) is a contemporary Spanish classic that has lost none of its beauty, heartache, or relevance. It officially launched Cary Joji Fukunaga's career and he remains a writer/director to watch on the big and small screen. I wasn't expecting Universal to give the picture a 4K scan but the 2K transfer is as strong as Revolver Entertainment's. It's also a plus that the English SDH can be turned off. Extras duplicate the UK disc. This is a MUST OWN.