Short Film Review: Nuevo Rico

Nuevo Rico is a short animated film directed by Kristian Mercado about a dystopian future version of Puerto Rico. The story centers around siblings Barbie (Jackie Cruz) and Vico (Antonio Vizcarrondo) who are aspiring musicians that are running from the police and end up in the rainforest. This is when the plot kicks off really as they come across a meeting of sorts involving some deities.

The film kicks off right away and has a really unique animation style that I was immediately drawn to. It was a little hard to follow at first since it’s so short it had to get right into everything right away. I had to do a lot of inferring on my own but I also feel the film was relying a lot on symbolism maybe a bit too much. The characters being siblings made the tragic ending hit even harder.

Barbie and Vico got help from a parchment from the messenger god Eshu (Fernando Ramos) who was hilarious. Hearing a god spout some of the lines he did really sold him and his devious nature. This parchment they received help them become superstars and we got a three-year time skip. I feel like telling not showing is a big no-no in such a visual medium, but the film is extremely short so I get it.

This film wasn’t the best but it was good and I was glad I watched it. Nuevo Rico definitely has a story worth telling and I really loved how unique the animation was. It’s a story about how the things we want may not always be what is best for us and things we love could be a corrupting influence. I will definitely be looking out for more of the director’s future projects.