“El Chicano” opens deep in the heart of East Los Angeles — or East Los, if you’re local — as a group of Latinx kids watches an act of vigilante justice in their neighborhood. A masked figure frightens off most of the gang members by making the sound of a cucuy — a boogyman — and striking his target with a deadly Aztec sword before disappearing into the night.
Twenty years later, it’s still in their memories. Diego (Raúl Castillo, “We the Animals”) has grown up to become a handsome LAPD cop with a promising career ahead of him.