For years pharmaceuticals have polled high on lists of industries that Americans loathe, and Uruguayan-Mexican director Rodrigo Plá’s thriller shows Mexicans must feel the same way. Sonia (a powerful Jana Raluy) needs to get her dying husband back on a drug that could save him. The drug company, playing the title role, has different ideas. No one will even talk to her. That is, until Sonia pulls a gun.
It’s an uncommonly swift movie, clocking in at 74 minutes; the similarly themed “John Q” ran almost two hours. This is a pared-down film that often shows things indirectly, focusing on a face or a room while something vital is happening outside of camera range. It is engrossing, even funny at times, but it is a bit too jagged in execution to properly build to its tragic climax.