‘No Man’s Land’ skillfully executed, but the message is muddled

For director Conor Allyn, making films has always been a family affair. He got his start helming action movies in Indonesia produced by his father, former Dallas political consultant Rob Allyn, and now has 11 features under his belt. Father and son also served as producers on Mexico’s Academy Awards submission this year, the delicate dance/immigration drama “I’m No Longer Here” by Fernando Frias. The Allyns’ latest feature, “No Man’s Land,” brings on brother Jake Allyn as star, co-writer and producer, and the result is Conor Allyn’s most personal and skillfully executed film yet.

The script, by Jake Allyn and David Barraza, is a story of tragic mistakes and hard-fought redemption set along the U.S./Mexico border (the title refers to the land between the Rio Grande and the official border). The Allyn brothers grew up between the two countries, and in this film, they attempt to grapple with the intimate and deeply human elements that get lost in politicized rhetoric on this topic. If anything, this depiction of the border as a porous and unwieldy plot of territory illustrates the futility of building any kind of “wall.”

Jake Allyn plays Jackson Greer, the youngest son of a ranching family, which includes his brother Luke (Alex MacNicoll), father Bill (Frank Grillo) and mother Monica (Andie MacDowell). Jackson loves ranch life, but he has a talent for baseball, something his family encourages him to pursue (via a tryout for the Yankees) as a way out of their rough, rural existence.

This minor personal conflict evaporates into the dust after a bloody incident involving some purloined cattle and a group of young migrants Bill and Luke come across at night. During a tense standoff, Bill is stabbed, and Jackson, coming upon the scene, shoots a young boy dead in an attempt to protect his family. The savvy local Texas sheriff (George Lopez) doesn’t buy Bill’s claim that he pulled the trigger, and when he confronts Jackson, the young baseball prospect takes off across the Rio Grande on horseback, finding himself a stranger in a strange land.

“No Man’s Land” is a curious title when the thrust of the film is about the discovery of another man’s land. The typical border drama script is flipped as we watch a young American white man stumbling into a new country, culture and language. Jackson seeks refuge and work with a Mexican family, befriending daughter Victoria (Esmeralda Pimentel).

But he’s pursued by the dead boy’s father, Gustavo (Jorge A. Jimenez) and a violent, cartel-connected coyote, Luis (Andrés Delgado). With his victim’s wallet in hand, a slip of paper directs Jackson to the city of Guanajuato, deep in Central Mexico, the boy’s home, where he will meet his ultimate test.

Conor Allyn directs the film with an assured swiftness, as Mexican cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez uses handheld cinematography to animate Jackson’s harried journey. An appreciation for Texas ranch vistas at magic hour, neon-drenched Mexican bars and the colonial architecture of Guanajuato comes through in every composition. Jake Allyn proves to be a compelling enough screen presence to carry a feature.

“No Man’s Land” is an interesting twist on the border drama, daring to depict Mexico as a complex and nuanced country: welcoming, fascinating and menacing in equal parts. But the story still centers a white male experience and hero’s journey, a question that starts to nag as the plot leaves a few Mexican characters, including a child, dead. Although consequences abound, and the filmmakers’ intentions are good, the ultimate message feels uncomfortably muddled.