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Though it comes to Chicago with hardly any fanfare, Narco Cultura (which opens tomorrow at the City North 14 in Logan Square and the Showplace 14 in Cicero) is one of the best-reviewed nonfiction features of the season (“It’s the most scarific doc I’ve seen since The Act of Killing, praised J. Hoberman). It profiles two interrelated industries, the Mexican drug trade and the Los Angeles-based narcocorrido music business, demonstrating that this is a booming time for both. The narcocorrido is a subgenre of Mexican pop with lyrics lauding high-profile cartel members—Steven Boone, in his four-star review for RogerEbert.com, likens the music to gangsta rap in its fantasies of “ruthless gain” and its close relationship between artists and the criminals they sing about. He writes:
