David Ayer's first time as director created a very real story about dangerous friendships... "Harsh Times"
Hello Hivers, in the next days will be released the new film directed and written by David Ayer, this film is "The Tax Collector" and that's why when looking for his filmography I was surprised that I had seen most of his works both as a screenwriter and playing the double role of writer and director, But the film where he began his career as a director is the work I had not seen and was very curious because it deals with a topic that is being discussed a lot because of the release of his new film and is about an American who knows and accepts the way of life of the Latino community in the city of Los Angeles.
"Harsh Times" is an excellent drama, a very real and even sad one, a story of friendships that have a wrong definition about what loyalty is, a story where men do not accept that they are not the young people they used to be and want to live without having any responsibility, just wanting to have everything quickly and without any effort and dreaming of a perfect job that gives them stability and power, but most of all they are people who seem to never be able to face maturity and who prefer to lose their lives before being called adults.
I liked this story a lot because in the place where I grew up I could see a lot of what these characters live, people who like to live on the edge, without fear and without responsibility, surrounded by thugs and wanting to make easy money, many of them think they don't have a future and so they give up everything else and go so far into that lifestyle that most of the time it has a quick end. The story of "Jim Davis" (Christian Bale) and "Mike Alonzo" (Freddy Rodriguez) I saw it many times, one has a life that offers nothing good and another with a great potential that has not yet discovered or do not let you discover, they believe that there is only one way to live and that is only the way to represent the place where they were born or grew up and there is no possible to overcome and be someone different.
The film focuses on the lives of these two characters, but it also shows that people who live in a neighborhood can have the possibility to do something better, that reflects very well Ayer, in several other characters who will have less time on screen, but I think an impact on important moments where it doesn't matter what past it has, life gives you the opportunity to improve yourself and get out of a community that offers you nothing but being judged by how you talk, dress and where you live, this must be one of the things that seemed great because not only is it seeing two men believe that they never had the chance to do something different but that the opportunities are there, you just have to be prepared to face it.
This screenwriter and director has always had as his main protagonist the city where he spent most of his life, he knows how to tell the stories he could observe for so long and he knows the struggle that many have experienced, struggles both good and bad and I think the story is excellent and very real and perhaps his vision as a director is not something new or original, But I think it shows the rawness of a city and its inhabitants that is necessary to be able to believe in their films and that has always had good actors like Christian Bale who does a great job as a person without a clear future, someone violent, You think it would be good to have them as a friend when you are young, but in reality it is not worth it because it can cost you your life and that is because Bale is the base and most important thing in the film and Ayer makes it worth it in every scene and of course the same actor responds to it in a great way with his performance. Each of the stories made by this director can be considered repetitive or that seeks to glorify a violent world of police, criminals and inhabitants of Los Angeles, but I think he is someone who values good and bad friendships because from any experience you must learn who to trust or not and more than anything else know who is on your side and who wants to take you to a dark side that is difficult to get out, that is what this story is about, the first film directed by David Ayer.
