The discovery of a handgun in a Hollywood Blvd. garbage can leads a semi-lucid homeless woman (Bella Merlin) to Tijuana, where she embarks on a semi-lucrative career as a drug mule. After a grocery store shootout brands a security cop (Hoze Meléndez) a hero, the mob hires him as an enforcer. Fresh off a stretch in the pokey, a sadistic drifter (Baltimore Beltran) chooses to set his habit of torturing women aside long enough to contemplate life as a political assassin. Three diverse characters circling the drain, gradually drawn together by forces of logic and narrative wizardry; a structural device that, when properly executed, can be an occasion for what Andrew Sarris referred to as “the most discerning worship.” This instance comes damn close, until a brace of third-act contrivances leaves Mente Revolver broken-hammered. Written and directed by Alejandro Ramirez Corona, see it, along with the short Microcastillo, when they both screen at the Digital Gym. Tijuana-based film critic Cuauhtémoc Ruelas will be on hand to share his insight. — Scott Marks