We Are What We Are (2010)

72% of critics liked it
(43 reviews)
46% of users liked it
(2,755 ratings)

A middle-aged man dies in the street, leaving his widow and three children destitute. The devastated family is confronted not only with his loss but with a terrible challenge -how to survive. For they are cannibals. They have always existed on a diet of human flesh consumed in bloody ritual… More A middle-aged man dies in the street, leaving his widow and three children destitute. The devastated family is confronted not only with his loss but with a terrible challenge -how to survive. For they are cannibals. They have always existed on a diet of human flesh consumed in bloody ritual ceremonies... and the victims have always been provided by the father. Now that he is gone, who will hunt? Who will lead them? How will they sate their horrific hunger? The task falls to the eldest son, Alfredo, a teenage misfit who seems far from ready to accept the challenge... But without human meat the family will die. Shocking, bloody and deeply moving, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE is a remarkable reinvention of the horror genre - a visceral and powerfully emotional portrait of a family bound by a terrible secret and driven by monstrous appetites. -- (C) IFC Films

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Jorge Michel Grau
Written By: Jorge Michel Grau
Genres: Drama, Horror, Art House & International

In Theaters: Feb 18, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Jul 26, 2011
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
An unexpectedly rich exploration of family bonds, blood rituals and the oftentimes zombie-like desire to assume the roles proscribed to each of us, played out with a sharp undertow of political allegory and darkly comic sensibility.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
Unfolding in an impoverished neighborhood in Mexico City, this disturbing debut paints social decay with bold, elegant strokes and dizzying camera angles.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Grau's script is intelligent, and it has something to say about family and social dysfunction. You just might want to skip meat for a few days.
Ian Buckwalter, NPR
Like zombie auteur George Romero at his best, Grau locks his sights on his social commentary of choice and goes after it with the zeal of a 19-year-old cannibal girl sinking an ax into the skull of her next meal.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
We Are What We Are is a darkly comic social allegory as well as an atmospheric little genre flick.
Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine
A competent barebones transfer of a horror film that deserves to win a wider audience among the Netflix crowd.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Grau equates his cannibal family much like Tobe Hooper's Texas clan - as disenfranchised poor people living on the fringes of society struggling with their own familial power structure.
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
If the resulting work ultimately fails to completely marry its disparate goals, it's to Grau's credit that he manages to make this slow-burning horror drama work as well as he does.
Shawn Levy, Oregonian
Takes a what-if situation and drives it rather unimaginatively into the exact places you might imagine it would go.
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com
Time and again promises answers and payoffs that do not come. Instead of being enigmatic for a reason, the film feels simply half-formed.
Elvis Mitchell, Movieline
You might want to catch We Are What We Are before its inevitable, much-too-glossy remake brightens the walls of American multiplexes.
John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
We Are What We Are is a superficially provocative movie that tries way too hard to be memorable.
Robert Levin, Film School Rejects
Grau never offers a tangible way in, a meaningful reason for the audience to try and probe below the grotesque surface.
Geoff Berkshire, Metromix.com
A visually striking debut for writer-director Jorge Michel Grau, who proves he has the chops for atmospheric horror even when his pretentious storytelling tendencies undermine the end result.
Chris Cabin, Filmcritic.com
lack of exposition and an air of genuine confusion are key to the film's modest successes
Keith Phipps, AV Club
Grau effectively mixes wry, bloody, deadpan gags, family drama, and stomach-churning violence.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
[VIDEO] Although Grau might imagine that the film's Spanish family of prostitute-killing cannibals represent some cogent diatribe on the nature of capitalist existence, no such literary rigor is applied.
Brian Juergens, CampBlood.org
With its sly message of self-empowerment in the face of overwhelming odds, this is pretty much the Mexico City Pride float of Mexican gay cannibal movies.
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
Cannibal movie is well-cooked but hard to swallow.
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
The characters' rapacious tendencies exist in a void, so all we get is numbing, meaningless viscera.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Fernando Rafael Q

Stunning Mexican horror film, heavily influenced by LÃÂ¥t den rÃÂ¤tte komma in. A family of cannibals struggles after the death of the father, who was in charge of getting the...well, food. Minimalistic setting and score compliment this drama favorably. Outstanding cinematography and… More
Stunning Mexican horror film, heavily influenced by LÃÂ¥t den rÃÂ¤tte komma in. A family of cannibals struggles after the death of the father, who was in charge of getting the...well, food. Minimalistic setting and score compliment this drama favorably. Outstanding cinematography and a top-notch cast make Somos Lo Que Hay the best Mexican film in recent years to slip under the radar. Writer/director Jorge Michel Grau manages to throw in some important commentary on how cynical and cannibalistic we can be as a society.
Francisco G

Mexico's Tony Manero
John M

"We Are What We Are" is an adequate and bitter family-drama with a compelling storyline and a hint of horror . The movie takes place in a brooding atmosphere and a sub-plot of socio-political criticism, in this case Mexico, but most developing countries of America can be… More
"We Are What We Are" is an adequate and bitter family-drama with a compelling storyline and a hint of horror . The movie takes place in a brooding atmosphere and a sub-plot of socio-political criticism, in this case Mexico, but most developing countries of America can be identified with it. Let yourself be bitten by these cannibals, it certainly deserves a viewing.
Quinto W

Mexico's new wave of indie cinema has yielded wildly uneven results, but something has always been consistently good: the cinematography. So, it's a pleasure to find out that Somos Lo Que Hay not only looks great, but it's also a very good movie. Part of what is so… More
Mexico's new wave of indie cinema has yielded wildly uneven results, but something has always been consistently good: the cinematography. So, it's a pleasure to find out that Somos Lo Que Hay not only looks great, but it's also a very good movie. Part of what is so engaging are the characters, which are very well written and portrayed by a talented cast; you feel for them, even root for them, even if the are... well, what they are. A well-paced, serious horror movie that doesn't just gloat on violence.
ernest e

It reached my maximum levels of disgust. It is not funny pleasant or uplifting but pushing some different unpleasant buttons. Your girlfriend will not like it. I liked it for making me aware of my personal negative limits, the mistakes or technical issues did not matter as much.… More
It reached my maximum levels of disgust. It is not funny pleasant or uplifting but pushing some different unpleasant buttons. Your girlfriend will not like it. I liked it for making me aware of my personal negative limits, the mistakes or technical issues did not matter as much. There were ten people in cinema, a couple left after 20 min. four people left after 35 min and two more 10 min prior to the end. Had chat with fellow on way out and it had rocked his balls as well.