How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Reunited after their collaboration on that breathless charge through Mayan disintegration Apocalypto, Mel Gibson relishes in restoring himself to action-hero duties in co-writer Adrian Grunberg’s directorial debut, How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Revisiting Central America, Gibson is an unnamed and ever-aliased career criminal, credited simply as ‘Driver’. After speeding headlong through the US border to Mexico with a dead accomplice, both dressed inexplicably as clowns, Driver promptly finds himself relieved of several million dollars in stolen cash by a group of unabashedly corrupt Mexican officials and accommodated indefinitely in El Pueblito. Thus begins his summer vacation in Tijuana.

El Pueblito is the captivating centrepiece of the film, a real-life prison which functions as a microcosmic and near post-apocalyptic reflection of criminal society. With authority devolved to local cartel kinpin Javi (Cacho), El Pueblito caters to all standard amenities: from ‘smack shacks’ to real-estate markets. Greasing the palms of officials even ensures that inmates can transplant their entire families into the rather esoteric prison ecosystem. Indeed, Driver comes to rely on a 9 year-old, named Kid (Hernandez), for a tutorial. Kid, it becomes apparent, is rather special; uniquely compatible with Javi’s rapidly deteriorating liver, his life ticks to the beat of Javi’s unremitting excess. And, with the victims of Gibson’s multi-million dollar theft on his trail, the plot entangles and the pace turns breakneck, setting the stage for Gibson, our reckless, charismatic and frequently self-serving anti-hero, to reel in the years with an-all-too timely reminder of everything he does best.

Bustled along by Antonio Pinto's Mariachi soundtrack and Gibson’s wry narration, How I Spent My Summer Vacation is expertly-delivered action. But it is not by-numbers. Through El Pueblito, Grunberg and Gibson explore an immersive, fascinating backdrop; as if spiking Lethal Weapon and Mad Max with a piquant dash of Apocalypto.

Eoin Dignan