When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, Sujo finds that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable.

A breathtaking film and the second collaboration of filmmakers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez (Identifying Features), Sujo recenters stories of cartel violence by exploring its aftermath, the collateral damage, and its orphans. With lyrical intensity and a penetrating humanity, it offers a moving, contemporary coming-of-age portrait of Sujo, a young man named after a strong-willed horse, and the way his identity, consciousness, and moral character are shaped through various episodes — by the women who protect him, the boys lured toward their fathers’ fates, the mentorship of a teacher — as if they are seasons in his growth. A rich tapestry of motifs reflects on how cycles are formed and broken. As a gunman’s son, is Sujo’s fate governed by circumstance or by something innate, akin to his spirited namesake?—JN