"600 Miles" or "600 Millas", stars Tim Roth and Kristyan Ferrer, and is the directorial debut of Gabriel Ripstein, who wrote the script for another Tim Roth movie "Chronic" (2015). The film won the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was met with much hype by critics and audiences but didn't get a big theatrical release.
The film follows the characters of Arnulfo (Ferrer) and Hank (Roth). Arnulfo is a very young man who smuggles weapons across the border to Mexico along with his associate Carson (Harrison Thomas). Arnulfo works for his uncle who is either a member or the leader of the weapon smuggling mob. Hank is an ATF agent who has been tracking down Arnulfo and Carson, knowing that they're buying a lot of guns. One day Hank confronts the two young men and things go South. Hank is kidnapped by Arnulfo and smuggled into Mexico. As the two characters become weary of what they are doing and the situation they are in they must work together to get themselves out of it.
"600 Miles" is a very well crafted film that has very strong performances by the two leads (Roth and Ferrer). The two actors have such good chemistry and it translates beautifully on screen as the characters they play get to know a little more about the other and soon have a complicated relationship. Tim Roth is gold in this movie, he's the best part of this film, in my opinion. Roth gives a very realistic approach to the character he's playing and adds the humanity that this film so dearly needs. Ferrer did very well in the film as well. Ferrer plays a very complicated character in the movie and you never really know what his character's motives are.
The directing in the film was handled very well. The cinematography is good as well, nothing truly spectacular but I did very much like the angles in which they shot the film and the long drawn out takes. The story was very subtle but powerful at the same time, a beautiful combination which I adore very much.
A couple of issues I had with the film was the editing. Certain scenes in the film would have a significant jump in time and leave a very big gap. This didn't bother me that much since it didn't hurt or affect the story but it was definitely noticeable. Certain scenes would just end and the next scene would be hours or days after the last one.
Now I know many people have an issue with the ending of the film, I'll be honest when the film supposedly ended I laughed and asked myself "That's it?". Now I do think that that type of ending was intentional but if you stay through the end credits you'll see what the film was going for.
Overall "600 Miles" is a solid film with great direction, acting, and a tense story. I would recommend it to any Tim Roth fan out there because he gives a very good performance in this film. Hope this review helped you decide whether "600 Miles" is or is not for you.
