Hispanic Culture… in English…
For some strange reason I managed to see two new movies this last weekend, BOTH of which are in some way related to Latin American Culture, populated with Hispanic actors, and are essentially ABOUT the culture itself, but they’re in English! I have a feeling they would have turned out better if they were fully fledged foreign films, not some weird cultural hybrid that doesn’t capture all that it can, nevertheless both were exceptional movies. I felt like trying a slightly new format this time, just for kicks. It’s not going to be a norm (I don’t think) but it’s something different. As always, please comment. Doing so encourages me to keep all this up…
- UNDER THE SAME MOON – ( 2008 ) 
Dir- Patricia Riggen; Star-Kate de Castillo, Adrian Alonso
The Plot: A Mexican boy is separated from his mother when she decides to work illegally in Los Angeles to earn money for her family. The boy misses his mother muchly, and eventually decides to try to find his own way across the border to Los Angeles. Along the way he gets help, for better or worse, from a colorful variety of characters who are good or bad of heart. It’s essentially about the illegal immigrant in America and a portrayal of what they go through every day, a very timely piece about an underrepresented portion of America.
Kudos: – Heartfelt; interesting; culturally rich; good supporting characters/cast; extremely effective final shot; amazingly charismatic performance by Alonso as the boy; good sense of place; And yes, it made me cry.
Un-Kudos: – At times too sappy and melodramatic which keeps it from having the true resonance it deserves; Screenplay could use some fine tuning and fleshing out; sometimes succumbs to odd sentimentality more akin to a family film, which doesn’t suit the subject.
The Final Word: – A culturally relevant film powered by the charming Alonso, turning what would have been a cheesy crapfest into an endearing, cute, and moving journey.
- LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA – (2007)
Dir- Mike Newell; Star-Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno
The Plot: – Concise, dumbed down adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ classic novel about one hell of a romantic, a boy who falls in love with a classy girl at first sight, and then spends his entire life trying to win her heart despite her marriage to another man and her cruel father etc. Oh yeah, it’s during the early 1900’s, and cholera is abound. Interesting depiction of how lust is really only a temporary replacement for a true love.
Kudos: – They don’t make movies like this anymore: sweeping, epic romance told with true romantic hyperbole and delicious chivalry, it’s sheerly a delight to watch and is easy to be sucked in to; Creative surface is nifty and the environments are lush and vibrant, similar to Julie Taymor’s Frida; Javier Bardem is awesome; the characters age beautifully; great source material; a good example of “see the movie first, THEN read the book” (I have not read it); Javier Bardem is awesome.
Un-Kudos: – Overly conventional production doesn’t take advantage of Marquez’ insanely brilliant mind; for the most part ignores any ‘magical realism,’ although the few times it shows up it’s highly rewarding, (I STILL think film can by-and-large capture the spirit of magical realism, but this isn’t the place); Use of adapted Shakira songs on the soundtrack is clunky and out of place; Is probably terrible if you’ve read the novel; Loses much of the power in the second half, where it loses focus and becomes more of a blurred mess.
The Final Word: – A luscious and sweeping romance, something quite rare these days, that is also great and delightful romantic escapism, but suffers from a second half lack of focus, mediocre adaptation, and a lack of any truly inspired cinematographic creativity.
Leave me a comment about the new format. Do you prefer it to the old “standard paragraph” reviews or not?? Feedback appreciated. :)
Tags: culture, hispanic, immigration, javier bardem, love in the time of cholera, marquez, movie reviews, movies, Reviews, under the same moon
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May 11, 2008 at 4:55 pm
My grandparents took me to see La Misma Luna (it was in spanish) last week, and we all loved it. I think the best part was the inclusion of humor through the interaction of Enrique and Carlitos- like the dishwashing scene. And Paco is definitely marriage material. Now, back to studying. :(
May 11, 2008 at 5:37 pm
thanks for commenting, my god no one ever comments it’s so boring. Yeah that was a funny scene. I think we can all learn from this movie that smuggling children is dangerous.
May 15, 2008 at 2:03 pm
These sound like good movies. Glad you reviewed them. I haven’t even heard of Under the Same Moon before. Oh, one thing that might be good too is if you put the MPAA ratings up.
May 15, 2008 at 5:21 pm
thanks for the suggestion, anonymous!