Backyard (2009) poster
2009 · drama · crime · thriller

Backyard

Directed by Carlos Carrera2h 2m2009
ElsewhereIMDb6.92kTMDB6.435
  • heavy
  • brisk
  • extreme
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, kinetic, extreme drama / crime, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Officer Blanca Bravo arrives in Juarez, Mexico — a grim nexus of corporate colonialism and sexual tourism — to investigate a rash of killings targeting female migrant workers. But with no help from the locals, bringing the responsible parties to justice becomes a frustrating exercise. As Bravo rails against indifference and local corruption, she finds herself on a collision course with Mickey Santos, a Mexican mogul with a taste for young prostitutes.

Our read · Backyard (2009) reads as a heavy, kinetic, grounded drama · crime · thriller entry — extreme in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
Where to watch
All options on JustWatch

Availability in the UK · via JustWatch

More info & search links
Fingerprint

The shape of Backyard

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a grim, realistic look at border corruption and femicide justice.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 15attention 4/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencesexual violencenuditygore

Skip it tonightYou want entertainment or uplifting stories, or can't handle graphic violence.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Your take
Rate it
star-clip-1-0star-clip-2-0star-clip-3-0star-clip-4-0star-clip-5-0
React
Discussion

Discussion

cmd enter to post

What does your Movie DNA look like?

Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.

Calibrate yourself