In indie crime thriller The Low End Theory, director and co-writer Francisco Ordonez presents the story of a combat vet who steals from her drug-dealer boss. Racquel (Sofia Yepes) is funding her artistic endeavor to become a beats producer in L.A. by laundering money. She’s also suffering from terrible nightmares and PTSD episodes.
Even with her difficulties, life seems manageable for her until she meets Veronica (Sidney Flanigan), an irresistibly beautiful woman who’s deeply in debt and being harassed by another drug dealer to pay off debts her ex-boyfriend incurred.
Despite the fact that she’s doing well with her music, her criminal enterprise, and living with a girlfriend named Giselle (Ser Anzoategui), Racquel decides to steal from her boss Uly (Eddie Martinez) to pay off Veronica’s debt. Her actions have dire unintended consequences, setting off a chain reaction of betrayal and violence that upends her world. As Racquel and Veronica prepare to run, the repercussions begin to multiply and Racquel is paralyzed with guilt over what she’s done. The gang of criminals make up an ersatz family, and her betrayals are even more despicable given how much trust is placed in her.
“…combat vet money launderer who steals from her drug-dealer boss…”
The film pulses with a grim beat as the spiral of inevitability winds tighter around Racquel, and before the end, more reversals of fortune continue in nasty surprises. Ordonez and Yepes deliver a dark tale of obsession and violent delights here, driven forward by the engine of a dynamic performance by Yepes.
In an interview with Deadline Yepes reflects on continuing her film-making relationship with Ordonez, and the opportunity to make The Low End Theory: “I grew up almost never seeing people that looked like me in the films I loved, and it’s my hope that we can now start to inhabit the classic Hollywood genres with our unique perspectives and experiences. In the years since Francisco first cast me in St. Paul, we have built a close-knit community of Latinx storytellers that have supported each other’s artistic endeavors, and this film is an outcome of that.”
The cinematography is in subdued shadow for the most part, matching the tone of the film. Pacing is tight and frenetic. One minor nitpick is that the sound mixing is muddy, such that the dialogue is often difficult to distinguish. This is a critical issue that comes up time and again for indie / budget filmmakers. Spotty visuals are tolerable, and can even be done at varying levels of quality as an artistic choice, but sound must be perfect for the script to be understood. If an indie producer spent 50% of the budget on sound, it would be a reasonable decision, particularly in a film where music plays a crucial role in the story.
The Low End Theory (borrowing its title from A Tribe Called Quest) is a satisfying crime drama with a hip-hop sensibility and emotional intelligence, portending more from this talented group of filmmakers.
"…a satisfying crime drama with a hip-hop sensibility..."
