I’m No Longer Here

In 2011, Ulises, a 17-year-old, leads Los Terkos, a gang centered on dancing and the Kolombia counter-culture. They wear bright, baggy clothes and spend their days at dance parties, showing off their colorful style. The group values camaraderie and self-expression as much as any criminal endeavor.

Los Terkos attempt to grab money from students outside a school to fund an MP3 player, but they are confronted by a member of Los F who tries to scare them away. The tense standoff underscores the growing danger the Terkos face from a real criminal organization. The incident sets the stage for imminent violence.

A member of Los F is arrested, and a Terkos steals the criminal's hand radio. That night, Ulises and the gang use the radio to prank Los F, drawing their attention and escalating tensions. The prank backfires, signaling the start of real danger for Ulises.

Two armed Los F members locate Ulises and Jeremy and threaten to kill them unless they quit their relaxed gang life. The threat demonstrates how quickly casual mischief can become deadly coercion. Ulises begins to fear for his family as Los F tighten their grip.

The next day Ulises witnesses a drive-by shooting in which Los F attack members of Los Pelones. One survivor, badly wounded, misidentifies Ulises as the traitor after recognizing the radio. The survivor curses Ulises and orders him to run, while his family faces retaliation.

Ulises and his family flee the slum, and his mother uses favors to smuggle him into the United States illegally. Before leaving, Chaparra from Los Terkos entrusts Ulises with the MP3 device the gang planned to buy. The move marks a drastic break from his old life and sources of danger.

Ulises arrives in Queens and starts living with day laborers, quickly running into trouble from language barriers, lack of English, and unfamiliar musical tastes. A clash over work and noise foreshadows further conflict in the immigrant environment. He struggles to adapt while clinging to memories of his past life.

Lin, Mr. Loh's grandniece, befriends Ulises and helps him settle in. She buys him a dictionary to learn English and offers him a run-down shed on the store roof as a place to live. Their growing friendship gives him a fragile sense of belonging in a strange city.

To earn money, Ulises dances to his Kumbia in the subway and on the streets, but he is routinely deterred by police and passersby. He attends a party with Lin but leaves alone after getting drunk and feeling homesick. A call to his mother reveals that returning home is not an option, since Los F would kill him on sight.

He visits a Latin bar and reconnects with a Colombian sex worker, who tells him she cannot see him again. Wandering the streets, he buys a bottle of paint thinner and huffs it while cutting his hair in a dazed state. The episode marks a downward spiral driven by loneliness and danger.

Ulises is found sleeping on the streets by the police and is deported back to Mexico after months in custody. The deportation abruptly ends his attempt to escape his past and returns him to the Monterrey slums. He finds that his old world has changed while Los F have grown more entrenched.

Back in Monterrey, Los F dominate the slums and many former Terkos have joined them. Ulises attends the funeral of an old Terko friend and reconnects with Jeremy, who has converted to Christianity and preaches rap to other boys. Ulises chooses to live on the streets again, continuing a solitary, wandering life.

Ulises dances one last time to the MP3 device before its battery dies. From a distance, he sees a crowd running toward the slums to hide from police after Los F distract by blocking a major avenue, allowing the gang to escape. The scene underscores the persistent danger that defines his world and its cycle of escape and threat.