Product description

Quinceanera [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Price: £5.68
Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 0043396163089
Label : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Release date : 2007-01-09
Title : Quinceanera [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actor : Array
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 2006-09-29
Region code : 1
Running time : 91
Studio : Sony Pictures
Theatrical releaseDate : 2005
MPN : COLD16308D

Customer reviews

review by: MikeonAlpha date: 2007-01-13 rating:

''Magdalena's starting to look so grown-up''
It's always refreshing to see a movie that's basically set in your own neighborhood, and luckily in Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's lovingly rendered Quinceanera, we get just that. The Echo Park and Silver lake areas of Los Angeles have always been unique with its mixture of people from all walks of life living together, for the most part, harmonously. br / br /Life-affirming without being saccharine this enormously entertaining movie follows the life of Magdalena (Emily Rios), a fourteen-year-old Mexican American girl who is about to celebrate her fifteenth birthday with a Quinceanera. As the film begins, we are witness to Eileen (Alicia Sixtos), Magdalena's richer cousin whp is out to celebrate her own Quincinera. br / br /It's a joyous time, with lots of dancing and eating, mired only by the arrival of Eileen's black-sheep brother Carlos (a wonderful Jesse Garcia) who has been kicked out of the family because he's gay, a big no no in this largely macho Catholic culture. Carlos is a bit of a bad boy, he shaves his head and has a 213 tatto on the nape of his neck, but he's also searching for something and is bitterly lonely. br / br /Both Magdalena and Carlos's stories converge when Magdalena discovers that she is pregnant and is tossed out of home by her fire and brimstone preacher father (Jesus Castanos-Chima). Although she denies actually going the whole way with her cute boyfriend Herman (J.R. Cruz), it seems as though his seed leaked on her leg and swam upstream all the way to fertilalize eggs. br / br /Consequently, Magdalena finds herself staying with her kindly great uncle Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), where the banished Carlos has also found a home. It his here that the different cultures converge as Carlos finds himself becoming involved in a three-way sexual relationship with two hunky partners Gary and James (David Ross and Jason Wood) who have just moved in upstairs and are renovating their apartment. br / br /Glatzer and Westmoreland not only capably present the many dichotomies of the Los Angeles Latin culture with its traditions and celebrations, but also show how this younger generation are often caught between the desires of their parents and the need to break out and be more modern. br / br /The movie also does a great job of highlighting the gentrification that is rapidly taking place in areas such as Echo Park, with many of the poor Latins gradually being edged out. Because they actually live there, the directors have given their film a remarkable sense of place. br / br /Indeed the neighborhood itself becomes a type character in the movie. Lenses pick up freshly renovated houses situated next to their worn neighbors. Echo Park - and indeed most of inner city Los Angeles - is obviously gaining something in the form of better quality housing, but in the process it is losing much of its identity and something age-old and character-driven is lost the process. br / br /Of course, the wonderful performances from this incredibly naturalistic ensemble cast are what really drives this movie. Rios, making her feature debut, has a wonderful naturalness, and Garcia, brings a smoldering and hunky intensity to his role. And as their respective lives converge and both discover some hard realities of life, the film never sells out to cheap sentimentality. br / br /Instead the directors take a frank and direct approach to these kids who, while far from hardened, are nowhere near innocent, either. Both Magdalena and Carlos find themselves in a situation where they have to form their own version of a family when their natural ones let them down, and both are too resourceful to wallow in self-pity. br / br /Quinceañera is indeed a beautifully made movie, well meshed and tightly directed - it's obvious that is a labor of love for all involved - and the film contains much social comment about the changing forms of neighborhoods and families that it keeps you thinking about these issues long after the movie has finished. Mike Leonard January 07. br /

Similar products

La Mujer de Mi Hermano [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
The Houseboy [2008] [DVD]
The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros [2007] [DVD]
Latter Days [2003] (REGION 1)
The DL Chronicles [2005] [DVD]

Similar categories