7 Boxes

Who knew that the world of the wheelbarrow delivery lad was quite so competitive? Well in Asuncíon it's pretty cut-throat and so when seventeen-year-old "Victor" (Celso Franco) sneaks a job away from "Nelson" (Víctor Sosa) he is quite literally taking his life in his hands. The job? Well he is promised $100 if he takes some boxes from a market business and keep them company until he receives further telephone instructions via a borrowed phone. That all sounds fairly straightforward, and the cash will buy the young man his very own cell, but of course with "Nelson" recruiting his mates to track down "his" merchandise and both "Victor" and his curious - and often quite interfering - pal "Liz" (Lali Gonzales) now aware of just what is in their consignment, the next few hours are going to prove quite perilous for all concerned. What chance he is going to emerge from the night alive and with his cash? The stories - there are a few subplots, too - hit the ground running and rarely pause for breath as the slightly episodic storyline unfolds to give us a little comedy amidst quite a compelling thriller. The acting from both Franco and Gonzales is engaging and though there can't have been much of a budget, there is good use made of their large closed-covered market and it's many busy corridors and dingy cubby holes whilst introducing just an hint of gangland rivalry too. The conclusion is perhaps a little rushed - and maybe a little unneccessarily bloody, but there is some imagination at work here to craft something just a little different. Worth a look.