In Alejandro Galindo’s gritty, rarely seen Mexican noir, Cuatro contra el mundo (US: Four Against the World), the inscrutable Lucrecia (Leticia Palma) is holed up in a squalid attic with four male criminals: one is her boyfriend, one lusts after her, one she lusts after, and one is dying from a bullet wound. Having just killed two men in the process of robbing a pay van, the violent Máximo (Tito Junco) and his three comrades arrive at his girlfriend-cum-moll’s house to hide themselves and the loot. Faced with injuries, jealousies, nosy neighbors, and police closing in, the cramped, dreary attic becomes a hothouse of emotion, the secret passions flaring between Lecrecia and the stoic Paco (Victor Parra) pushing them all toward certain tragedy. With its decrepit walls and filthy rooftops, the building reflects the characters’ hopelessness, especially during the flashes of lightening, while viewers witness the excruciating pain of one of the “guests” as another performs makeshift surgery on him. Carrión’s strings-heavy, orchestral score is intensely dramatic, its cellos and violas moaning throughout even the quiet scenes as a warning that death is on its way.