Courtesy of The Film Collaborative

I Promise You Anarchy follows two teenage lovers in Mexico City as they become embroiled in the city’s illegal, narco-run blood trade. Newcomers Diego Calva Hernández and Eduardo Eliseo Martínez, non-actors discovered on Facebook, give outstandingly honest and committed performances as Miguel and Johnny. They skate with their friends through the chaotic neighborhoods of Mexico City, revel in their blissful sexuality, and make a bit of cash in the illegal blood trade. A contact connects them with narcos—drug traffickers who need black-market blood, since they cannot go to hospitals—and it seems like a perfect way to make a lot of money. But soon Miguel and Johnny are in over their heads, their eyes opened too late to the truly disturbing underground network of clinics servicing victims of the drug wars.

I Promise You Anarchy displays a raw and realistic aesthetic that reaches its peak in the energetic scenes of skateboarders zooming along Mexico City’s streets. To this youthful exuberance, there’s a layer of suspense amid elements of film noir. Undoubtedly a chilling reality check, I Promise You Anarchy is at its heart a film about the friendship and love between young men, explored with tenderness and sincerity.