A City’s Shadows Shape Choices

MOVIE REVIEW
Die Like A Man
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Genre: Crime, Thriller
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 2h
Director(s): Eric Nazarian
Writer(s): Eric Nazarian
Cast: Miguel Ángel García, Cory Hardrict, Mariel Molino, Frankie Loyal, Berenice Valle, Cesar Garcia, Peter Vasquez, David Anthony McGill, Dinero100k, Alexander Adrian Gibson, Laura Patalano
Where to Watch: exclusive, limited Los Angeles theatrical run from April 18th to April 24th at the celebrated film venue the Secret Movie Club, followed by its digital release on April 25, 2025

RAVING REVIEW: When a story pulls from personal memory rather than genre formula, there's a striking tension between truth and fiction. This one doesn’t just suggest authenticity—it breathes it. Built from the ground up with grit and experience, it is less a studio creation and more a raw confession, shaped by the streets that raised it. We do not get a polished spectacle, but something rough-edged and intentionally human.

Set within a pocket of Los Angeles that's more often ignored than glamorized, DIE LIKE A MAN centers on Freddy, a teenager standing at the edge of two lives. On one side is the violence and loyalty demanded by street culture; on the other, the flicker of something gentler, less defined but maybe worth fighting for. The film uses this crossroads to interrogate coming of age and what it means to become a man in a system where survival is mistaken for strength.

Freddy’s conflict doesn’t rely on action set-pieces or exaggerated confrontations. It’s a quieter kind of war—an internal clash between inherited codes of masculinity and the possibility of rejecting them. The dynamic between him and Solo, a father figure steeped in contradiction, creates a pressure cooker of influence. Solo isn’t written as a villain, but his guidance is laced with menace. He represents that seductive danger—offering purpose, but with conditions that erode the soul.

Miguel Angel Garcia's performance doesn’t reach for grand gestures. His restraint speaks louder, allowing the audience to experience Freddy's world without exposition. Garcia moves through the role like someone shouldering a burden he doesn’t fully understand yet. Opposite him, Cory Hardrict gives Solo the charisma needed to draw others in while maintaining the hardened exterior of a man whose choices have long outlived his conscience. Mariel Molino’s Luna isn’t just a love interest; she’s an act of resistance. Her character adds dimension, providing an unspoken alternative to violence—a rare softness that exists not to save Freddy but to remind him that there are still options.

Shot over just two weeks, the film uses its limitations as strengths. There’s no sense of gloss here. The visuals lean into the concrete reality of its setting—the alleys, canals, and aging neighborhoods all exist with a lived-in feel. These locations aren’t treated like exotic backdrops. They’re treated like home, worn down by time, memory, and trauma.

This isn’t a story about legends or rise-and-fall narratives. Instead, it draws its power from how unremarkable Freddy’s path feels. That gives the film weight—because these choices aren’t made in epic moments but in the slow grind of expectation and fear. Director Eric Nazarian’s lived experience—growing up immersed in working-class Los Angeles—shows how grounded everything feels. There’s no attempt to sensationalize; violence isn’t entertainment here; it’s a consequence.

By working alongside groups like Everytown for Gun Safety and Homeboy Industries, the production isn’t just telling a story about cycles of violence—it’s engaging with the world those cycles impact. That awareness bleeds into the final product, reminding viewers that the message doesn’t stop when the credits roll. That doesn’t fix the film’s flaws, but it adds sincerity.

Nazarian’s direction isn’t interested in dominating the screen. His choices let the story breathe when needed. He lingers in quiet moments that say more than most dialogue-heavy scenes ever could. There’s a patience to his style that benefits the material, even if that pacing occasionally risks slowing engagement. Still, that commitment to tone and texture gives the film its identity.

It doesn’t scream its themes at you. Instead, it quietly offers a story about cycles—about influence, resistance, and the struggle to find your voice when everyone around you is yelling something else. It doesn't reach for easy catharsis. It doesn't promise transformation. But it does earn its place in the conversation.

Even when certain parts don’t connect, the overall picture is of care and clarity. The film knows what it wants to say and, more importantly, how to say it without romanticizing the systems it critiques. There’s enough here to recommend—especially for those drawn to character-focused dramas that linger in the gray spaces. It might not hit with the force of more polished productions, but it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in what it refuses to exaggerate.

@dielikeamanofficial

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[photo courtesy of GRAVITAS VENTURES]

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