Things We Dare Not Do

"'Things We Dare Not Do' is the kind of documentary that allows for reflection on documentary filmmaking itself. To what degree is what the camera captures "real" and direct, or how much is it a recreation or even fiction? The presence of the camera and director Bruno Santamaría is evident almost from the start, but he does not attempt to steal the spotlight. Instead, the documentary may give the impression of being a mundane vignette of a small town in Nayarit, with all its marginality and everyday violence, although the director refuses to fall into the exploitation and pornomisery so typical of many Mexican documentaries. 'Things We Dare Not Do', on the other hand, frames its story from the innocent gaze of the children accompanied by the camera, while contrasting it with the bubbling secret that its teenage protagonist is preparing to reveal. A documentary that manages to be intimate without being invasive, while also managing to find (or create?) narrative tension in everyday life."