Most stories about the immigrant experience are these sorta sad, but ultimately hopeful affairs. There’s one big reason for that though: usually the immigrant has agency, and is choosing to chase a dream. I’m No Longer Here presents the other side of that coin, showing immigration without agency. I’m No Longer Here shines a light on those who never get a light shown on them: the enslaved and the deported, taken to a new place, forced to figure out how to survive.
Ulises (Juan Daniel Garcia) is a leader of Los Terkos, a band of teenagers roaming about the slums of Monterrey Mexico. They engage in petty rebellious activity normal teens do, nothing more (like loitering, stealing candy from stores). And they dance, and dance to their hearts content to Cumbia. After a series of seemingly small stupid choices, the situation at home escalates, forcing Ulises to flee to Queens, USA. To most, this is a dream: the land of opportunity! But there’s a mountain of obstacles Ulises has to tackle first before even sniffing that dream.
The movie does a great job selling why someone might not want to leave the slums of Monterrey Mexico, necessary for the gut punch of a 2nd act. Despite the meager living of its residents and scary day to day threat of gang warfare, there’s a joy of the simplicity of living. Roaming the streets, sometimes you end up in a market viewing a device that holds hundreds of songs you could hear over and over, or you end up in a dance party outside of a restaurant, showing your moves in the baggy clothes that signify your group. As teens, these kids carry themselves with the patriotism to Los Terkos, rebelling against authority figures and choosing to live free without rules or consequences.
But as we know, a false sense of security and a place where resources are scarce means a recipe for something bad to happen. In this case, it’s not death, it’s exile. For something totally innocuous that got FUBAR real quick. At least it’s the best exile possible for Ulises: a melting pot of cultures that is Queens. But the gut punch of the story is the grounded realistic way Fernando Frías de la Parra, the writer director, unfolds how impossible sustainable living has become for the former leader of Los Terkos. Can he work? Being undocumented, he has to use manual labor which he sucks at. His roommates don’t like him at all, because of his weird, overtly proud stance on cumbia music. Even when someone like the sweet Lin (Angelina Chen) takes an interest in him, communication is an exhausting chore, since he only knows Spanish, and she…doesn’t. Being uprooted from a place where he was respected, Ulises slowly drifts into personal isolation, with zero resources to help him get on his feet. The biggest gut punch is la Parra’s last 15 minutes, a heartbreaking conclusion to an interesting cultural study that became more and more melancholic with each little setback completely sold by the brilliant Juan Daniel Garcia.
The new kid in school. Refugees. Dreamers. These are examples of people in our day to day to lives that may be living an experience like the one Ulises had to go through. I’m No Longer Here will make me dwell upon them for at least a moment longer, and make me try to connect in whatever way I can, because it must suck to be torn away from everything you know without your permission, forcing to live with the consequences along the way. Props to you brave souls! You’re more amazing than you know.