Beeba Boys

103 minutes – Drama
Canadian release date: October 16, 2015
Film Festival release: September 13 (World Premiere at TIFF)
US release date: TBA
Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media

Trailer & Poster courtesy of Mongrel Media

Set in present day Vancouver, within the contained world, or in this case, the underworld populated by a small handful of Indo-Canadians, we watch as a battle unfolds between two families. If this sounds a bit like The Godfather, it might actually be closer to Goodfellas. The exact translation of Beeba Boys is Good Boys, and like the the earlier film, a certain amount of the gangster code is expressed in the cars they drive, the clothes they wear and the woman they keep, almost as pets. The war is also generational. The young boys wanting to overthrow the older, wiser, more experienced local crime boss. There is a seering reality to the film thanks in part to the film’s producer and its director spending time in Vancouver interviewing an ex-gangster and much of the film is based on real events. A statistic in the pess notes states that in a ten year period, 100 young Indo-Canadian men have been slain. The film is also stylish, in places it exudes the rythym and joy of the culture, and yet it is as brutal, graphic and violent as the best films from this genre.