Bullets (2023) Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2023

Abdel is a young man who is not quite a teenager and no longer a kid. Drifting in between the worlds of adults and kids he doesn’t really fit I either. Drifting more and more toward the adult world he ends up graduating from throwing rocks at the cops to shoplifting and worse. As some adults try to stop his slide he finds himself on a collision course with tragedy.

There were more than a couple times over the course of BULLETS I literally sat upright and started talking to the screen. A lot of the plot turns are not what you normally see in a film like this. And while the film occasionally feels a little too filled with events, they always feel real and you get the sense that Peter Pontikis based it on actual events. The result is a film where you gasp and talk to the screen. When I got to the end I just sort of sat at the screen staring - its one of the most crushing things I've seen in a while.

This film is an absolute kick in the ass. I see numerous similar films like this every year but this is one of the most affecting I've run across. As I said above the final images, while in no way graphic are truly heartbreaking simply for what they mean.

A great film. You must see this.

Highly recommended