Coyote (Unrated) **½

By Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald

Coyote, the opening night film of the 2008 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, offers a unique spin on the well-trodden subject of illegal immigration. Director/co-writer Brian Petersen also stars as Steve, a 31-year-old Arizona millionaire who made his fortune during the Internet boom and is now a little bored with his life, having nothing to engage him except his impending marriage to Katie (Carley Adams).

After he and his slacker buddy J. (Brett Spackman) successfully smuggle a family acquaintance over the U.S.-Mexico border, the two pals decide to make a business out of it, printing brochures to hawk their services to hopeful illegals and even offering different packages to their customers.

Petersen is a better director than actor: The line readings in Coyote are a constant reminder you’re watching an ultra low-budget independent production, although the fluid camerawork is surprisingly good and the movie makes effective use of its expansive border settings. There are also long stretches in it that almost double as a how-to documentary on crossing the border.

Coyote doesn’t always successfully meld its contradicting tones of wry satire and potentially deadly drama (the boys are so successful at their enterprise, they earn the wrath of their competitors, and it’s a cutthroat business). But its story presents a fresh and energetic take on a subject too often treated in melodramatic fashion by other films. And despite the script’s uneven nature and occasional lapses of logic, Coyote succeeds at involving you in its heroes’ dilemma. Like so many who achieve the American Dream, they become victims of their own success.

Cast: Brian Petersen, Brett Spackman, Carley Adams, Marina Valle, Oswaldo Hernandez.

Director: Brian Petersen.

Screenwriters: Brian Petersen, Brett Spackman.

Producers: Chris Wyatt, Devin Colvin.

Running time: 94 minutes. Vulgar language, violence, sexual situations, adult themes. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. Plays at 8 tonight at the Rose and Alfred Minaci Performing Arts Center.

This story was originally published October 16, 2008 at 4:10 AM.