'We the Coyotes' Review

On Sunday 30, September I went to London to attend my first-ever film festival, The Raindance Film Festival. I enjoyed it thoroughly with it being the UK's biggest independent film festival, and whilst I was there I was privileged to watch the premiere of Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via's fantastic film We The Coyotes.

We The Coyotes tells the story of Amanda and Jake, a young couple who have decided to move to Los Angeles to start a new life together. The film follows the couple during their first 24 hours in Los Angeles.

We The Coyotes is electric right from the beginning—you can feel the excitement of Jake and Amanda as they travel to Los Angeles to start their new life there. But there is also an air of uncertainty surrounding them as they soon begin to discover that escaping to somewhere completely new presents its own set of challenges, and they soon realise that Hollywood life isn't as simple or as picturesque as it appears in movies and books. That's what makes We The Coyotes stand out—it exposes the harsh reality of what everyone perceives to be The American Dream, and teaches us that it isn't always easily reachable.

I felt an immediate connection with Amanda and Jake and their vibrant personalities, and you can very much feel that they love each other and want to look out for one another. Morgan Saylor and McCaul Lombardi play their roles perfectly and naturally, and the script is incredibly well written which makes for a number of moving and funny scenes throughout the film. The cinematography also shows us the interest La Via and Ladoul take in their characters' feelings, with intimate close-up shots that familiarise us with Jake and Amanda to begin with and wide-angle shots later on in the film that make us feel like we are travelling with them through their journey in Los Angeles.

I felt personally that We The Coyotes also demonstrated very well how hard it is to get by with being a young adult in this day and age, especially in the respect of trying to get a job in one of the richest and most commercially focused cities in the US.

We The Coyotes addresses the bold political statement that life in the US is not easy for young people as the characters face pressures all around them—prejudiced assumptions, disagreements between generations, and parental expectations. But whilst expressing this the film also reassures us that the most important thing to have in life is someone to care for you and get through it with you and that is all that matters. The fact that Amanda and Jake stay so strong throughout their experience makes their characters very likeable and easy to relate to.

Overall, We The Coyotes is a wonderfully thought-provoking, dazzling depiction of the volatility and wonder of being young, in love, and uncertain of where your life is going, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via for letting me review their film. 🙂 We The Coyotes can be seen in theatres nationwide in France on December 12. It is also premiering at the Warsaw film festival which is running between October 12 - 21 and the Gijón International Film Festival in Spain which runs from November 16 - 24. These two talented filmmakers Hanna and Marco are also looking for a distributor in the UK, so if you're a film distributor living in the UK or know someone who is, get in touch with them now!

Social media links:

Facebook: We The Coyotes

Instagram: @NousLesCoyotes

Twitter: @WeTheCoyotes