Campéon Gabacho (Jonás Cuarón, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars
There is a moment in Campéon Gabacho, the new feature from Jonás Cuarón (Chupa), where the protagonist, an undocumented migrant from Mexico trying to scrape by in New York City’s Bronx neighborhood, soars into the sky in the arms of his would-be girlfriend, the two so enraptured with each other in the moment that their fantasies carry them far and high. As they begin to exit the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s hard not to think of Gravity, the 2013 action thriller that Cuarón penned with his father, Alfonso. Intentional or not, this playful callback encapsulates a lot of what makes Campéon Gabacho special. Despite its often-heavy themes and violence, the movie is crafted with a light and lively touch, reminding us that the universe is vast and that life is worth fighting for.
Based on the eponymous 2015 novel by Aura Xilonen—“campéon” means champion in Spanish, and “gabacho” is a derogatory term which, in Mexico, is used to describe someone from the United States—who co-wrote the screenplay with Cuarón, the film follows young Liborio (Juan Daniel García Treviño, I’m No Longer Here) as he goes from rags to, if not riches, respectability, striking a blow for all those beaten down and trod upon by systems of oppression. When we meet him, he is earning a bare-bones living tidying up in and around a bookstore owned by a man he simply calls “Chief” (Eddie Marsan, Vesper), who is kind enough if also a bit of a racist (or at least colonialist) bully. Liborio is allowed to sleep in the loft at night.
Unfortunately, this arrangement comes to a fiery end after Liborio defends Aireen (Leslie Grace, In the Heights), a gal in the neighborhood, from local toughs, the young men he humiliates later coming back to exact revenge. Suddenly homeless, Liborio spends a great deal of time rejecting help from influencer “Doble-Ú” (Rosario Dawson, Dopesick), who captured his street fight on her smartphone and thinks she could make him a star. Pride prevents Liborio from accepting charity, and almost undoes him, though when we see, in evocative flashbacks, the hard conditions of his journey to the United States, we better understand why he is so stubborn. If he’s survived this long on his own, why can’t he keep doing so?
Cuarón employs a number of stylistic flashes to keep the narrative moving at a peppy pace, including fourth-wall-breaking monologues, quick pushes-in by the camera, and background slow motion and freezes to manipulate time and always focus on Liborio’s singular point of view (the aforementioned space flight fits into this aesthetic). At times, these tricks prove almost too much, a distraction in their repetition, though they mostly serve to hold despair at bay. At its heart, Campéon Gabacho tells a brutal tale that is simultaneously unique and universal.
Eventually, Liborio gives in to fate and becomes what he was always meant to be, which is a boxer, at least for a little bit. Supporting him in this transformation is a solid supporting cast that, beyond those already listed, includes Rubén Blades (Hands of Stone), Dolores Heredia (Pedro Páramo), Cheech Marin (The Long Game), and a large group of adorable children. And though the big match at the end is nothing we haven’t seen before in other movies like this, it still inspires. Magical and rough-and-tumble realism all in one, Campéon Gabacho delivers a resounding and meaningful cinematic punch.
Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.