Nico

A groundbreaking and innovative take on the classic hard-boiled police dramas of the 70s, Nico presents a police scenario where all the players are Black and Brown actors. The story starts with Detective Carrera (Madarryl Mial) discovering that a teenager he has had a friendship with, Nico (Jacob Rojas), has been found dead on the streets. Distraught by the revelation that a teenager who had once saved his life was now dead, Carrera makes it his personal crusade to hunt down Nico’s killer. Joined by the studious and light-skinned Detective Doug Johnson (Andersson Tejeda), Carerra seeks all leads while keeping his new partner at bay.

Nico is an intensely violent flick. Throughout the film, Carrera will hunt down and slay a great many corrupt and dirty minions of our antagonist. I shall not reveal the antagonist’s identity here, as it’s the big reveal in Act Three. However, it should be clear that most of the bad guys on display here are cops. Nico’s DNA speaks to films such as The French Connection. While Madarryl Mial is not quite as gruff or as acerbic as Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle (seriously, who could be?), he does a wonderful job leading this ensemble. Mial has this great haunted look. He also plays obsessed and angry very effectively. He’s got these lively eyes that convey all these emotions clearly. Acting for the screen, dear reader, relies on an actor having expressive eyes. I’m glad to tell you everyone in Nico definitely does.

“…discovering that a teenager he has had a friendship with… has been found dead on the streets.”

This is director Cosmo Losco’s first feature film. It is not writer/producer Vega Montanez’s first go-round. This creates a nice balance. Losco has a bold and brutal vision for what he wants Nico to accomplish. Montanez’s script and general work in support of that vision make it happen effectively and in an understated manner. There are no flashy whiz-bang effects. There is just gunplay, effective foley, and great discipline applied to the action scenes. The action scenes are swift and bloody. While there is little blood splatter, people who are dying possess realistic bleeding bullet wounds and bloodied teeth. The action is shot smoothly, and it’s clear who is doing what. I credit both Losco and Montanez for putting together a hard-hitting police drama and making it stick the landing. This is great stuff.

For a story that starts off with the murder of a teenage boy, Nico travels to some dark and distressing places in society. The very nature of the dirty cop and their motivations are fully explored in this film. I will give props to the entire crew for making this film a believable, relatable story that fully engrosses me, the spectator in Nico’s tale.

Hopefully, it will do the same for you. If you like hard-boiled cop dramas, Nico is your new jam. This is a great entry into that particular genre. I hope it has a long life on multiple streaming services.