Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The premise was very intriguing and, let's get this out of our way right now, the lack of gore throughout most of the movie was actually an interesting and refreshing choice.Unfortunately the positives end pretty much there... The story plods along with nothing really happening, besides family members arguing about "what to do" after the father's untimely demise. The needed ritual to keep the family's eating habits going is much talked about but there's nothing clear about it, and the little we're hinted about in the rather confusing finale is far from satisfying.Then there's the cookie-cutter social message about poor people struggling in a cold, heartless world, but it's left at a couple of generic shots to the middle-class or to the police (cue a completely gratuitous offer of a very underage prostitute to one of the cops who's after the cannibals, a non-sequitur thrown in just in case the general angsty feel of the movie wasn't heavy-handed enough to get the point across).As said, even the climax feels rushed, underdeveloped and leaves so many questions unanswered, while still retaining the "or is it..." cliché open ending every dreadful horror movie has.Bottom line: as a horror movie it's sub-standard on every possible account. As a social drama, it skims over some interesting points and premises, but none of them is adequately with the required insight.Frankly, I feel this movie gets so much attention because it's a non-Hollywood production AND it fits all the criteria for Artsy Film Festival bait.

In Mexico, the patriarch (Humberto Yáñez) of a family of cannibals dies in a shopping mall. He is a watchmaker that supports his family and his sons Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro) and Julián (Alan Chávez) go to the street market to work in his booth. However the manager evicts them from the market since their father owes three-week rental to her. When they return home, their sister Sabina (Paulina Gaitan) informs that their father has died in the mall. While the three siblings discuss who will be the family provider for their rituals, their mother Patricia (Carmen Beato) locks herself in a room. Alfredo and Julián initially assume the responsibility but they are clumsy and soon two corrupt police detectives track them down. "Somos lo que hay" is an unpleasant Mexican low-budget movie with displeasing characters. A couple of days ago, I saw the good 2013 remake and I was curious to see the original feature. I found it very disappointing, with nasty characters and situations. Further, it is difficulty to say if the author of this horror movie wishes to show social problems in Mexico (poverty, prostitution, corrupt police etc.), drama or whatever. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): Not Available on Blu-Ray or DVD

I started out not enjoying this at all, wondering when the cannibals were going to appear. Things happened, characters were introduced and developed, slowly it became clear what the film was really about. The title says it all, and tells the story of the various 'types' quite well considering it's constrained in the normal film running time. Hapless brother ashamed of his homosexuality is forced to take over the household when his father dies. Things go bad, his violent brother is always flying off the hook making the wrong impulsive decisions. Misery of a mother always complaining, the only intelligent character seems to be the cunning sister with her facade of innocence. The 'useless cops' don't shed their spots either. Everyone acts in character to the bitter end, and there are many bitter ends in this one! (mostly with a shovel) It is refreshing to see people behave true to their personalities, and to me this is the whole point of the film. Yes it's about cannibals, but that's not really the point. I even liked the ending.

This movie had a terrific premise: The father of an isolated, poor family dies, so the family tradition is passed down to the children: the tradition of consuming human flesh!I was expecting either a very campy horror flick, or a balls to the wall docu-drama, but all-in-all, a powerful movie.I'm pretty objective about recent movies, so I'm not a wee bit personal, when I'm saying that this movie not just ignored all my expectations, but gave absolutely nothing instead. Let's get one thing out of the way: the acting was terrific. Great casting choices, great performances. I admit that. But to what end?There is so much wrong with this movie, it's easier to tell what was right. Besides the acting, the music was also pretty moving. It was terrible in this movie, but on it's own, it was pretty good music. ... Now for the bad parts: literally, everything else. The plot. So we have this family, with a fiendish agenda. Why are they determined to eat people? did they really eat them before? If so, why do they want to stop now? What do they want to accomplish with cannibalism? What are their reasons? We never get to know.The personal stories. What do the 3 kids want? Is Alfredo really gay? What's his history with his parents? And Julian? What drives Sabina? And the mother? Why does she think they should not eat prostitutes but something else, and why does she hates her children? Why does she do all the things she does in the movie? There's no logic in her motives. The only two characters who were remotely interesting and entertaining (two workers at the local morgue), had about 5 minutes of screen time only.The gore. Alright. This is supposed to be a cannibal movie. It's okay to have no gore, if we have a strong story, or the movie takes a turn, and just starts to show the story from a different perspective. Which it doesn't. Also, no consumption of human flesh is shown. There are some very violent scenes, but since there is no one to care about in this movie, they are absolutely weightless. The cinematography. Good god. There were some pretty nifty camera movements, and they didn't even come off as gimmicky, self-righteous idiotism. Respect for that. Too bad, the lighting just destroyed all of the shots. Seriously, I don't think I ever seen a movie as badly lighted as this one. It wasn't just dark, most times it was pitch black, with a very short depth of field. It was confusing to say the least, and stupid to be fair.The direction. What were you thinking? No, that is not just a theatrical question. I'd like to know what was the aim of this movie? What were the reasons behind it? In this movie, We know nothing, we see nothing, and we care about no one. I rarely say this, but probably this was the most eventless 90 minutes of my life.