The Sentimental Engine Slayer

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of the noted prog rock band The Mars Volta wrote, directed and stars in this story of a man in his early twenties struggling to deal with maturity and a troubled past. Barlam (Rodriguez-Lopez) is a nerdy guy who works at a grocery store and his frequently taunted by his few friends and many casual acquaintances. Barlam still lives with his father (Angel Marcelo Rodriguez Chevrez) and his sister Natalia (Tatiana Velazquez) and has never fully recovered from his parent's divorce; one of his few hobbies involves building models of the 1967 Mercury Cougar, the car his folks drove in happier times. The home Barlam shares with his family has become a clubhouse for local ne'er-do-wells, most of whom are friends with Natalia's bed-wetting boyfriend Zack (Kim Stodel). As Barlam edges closer to insanity, he wrestles with his desire for his drug-addicted sister and his obsession with the notion that one of the neighbor kids is actually his half-brother from one of his mother's adulterous liaisons. Shot in and around El Paso, Texas, The Sentimental Engine Slayer was not Omar Rodriquez-Lopez's first film, but it was the first to be released to the public, and received its world premiere at the 2010 Rotterdam International Film Festival.