Quinceańera
Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Scenario: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Year: 2006
Duration: 90 min (uncut)
Rating: 7.1/10
Subtitle: English
Actors: Jesus Castanos, Araceli Guzman-Rico, Emily Rios, J.R. Cruz, Listette Avila, Alicia Sixtos, Hector Quevedo, Germán Campos, Carlos Linares, Johnny Chavez, Carmen Aguirre, Margarita Lugo, Jorge Ortiz, Veronica Sixtos, Jesse Garcia
Description:
Film je počeo sa nečim nalik na 15-tim rođendanom mekskanke Magdalene, koja sa porodicom živi neđe u USA. Muzika, dirljivi govori, prijateljice koje se dive novoj haljini, ukratko ništa nije izostalo. Podsjetilo me kad sam ja imao 15 godina. Iako nisam imao ovakav rođendan, dobio sam po jedan poklon od omiljenog rodjaka i od najboljeg druga! ( obadvojica su mislila da su oni ti koji su mi uzeli nevinost! )
Sve u svemu Magdalena ubrzo nakon rođendana izgubi nevinost od jednog lokalnog momka i pri tome ostane trudna! Bezobrazni momci iskoriste pa te ostave u takvom stanju! A niko ne misli kako će te okolina posmatrati sa tolikim stomakom. Sva sreća te sam se ja oduvjek pazio i koristio kondome!
Ali Magdalena nije. Otac, primitivac meksikanski je izbaci iz kuće i ona morade da ode kod starog ujaka koji je živio sa njenim daljim rođakom Carlosom, poštenim i vrijednim gay momkom, kojeg bi mogli svrstati u one gayeve koji sve te seksualne radnje dobro rade ali se ne hvale sa time!
Ono što me oduševilo kod Carlosa je kad je Magdaleni predložio da je oženi kako joj dijete ne bi bilo bez oca. Na ovo su sve gay domaćice zaplakale , pa i ja! Ode mi pakovanje papirnatih maramica, jedva sačuvah jednu za večernju masturbaciju!
Carlos svojim velikodušnim gestom dobija mnogo uz malo truda. Ima bebu i ženu , a da nije morao da svoj penis umače u tu groznu vlažnu rupetinu!
Naravno neću vam ispričati film do kraja, pa da me poslije kritikujete kako sam vam pokvario ugođaj gledanja filma.
Baš se iznenadih koliko sličnosti ima meksikanso-američka kultura sa ovom našom balkanskom! Čitajući novine vidim da još uvjek ima slučajea da roditelji izbace djevojku iz kuće jer je maloljetna ostala trudna. Samo malo je gay momaka koji bi potrčali u pomoć!
'Quinceanera' needs some spice
By JANE STEVENSON - Toronto Sun
PLOT: Complications arise when a 14-year-old Latino teen in L.A. discovers she's pregnant just before her Quinceanera -- the traditional celebration of her 15th birthday. Shunned by her family, she goes to live with her open-minded elderly uncle and gay cousin.
Directing-screenwriting team and real-life partners Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland were inspired to write the kitchen sink drama after being asked to photograph the quinceanera -- the wedding-like and traditional celebration of a Latina's 15th birthday -- of a next-door neighbour.
Newcomer Emily Rios plays Quinceanera's lead role of Magdalena, a Latina teenager living in L.A.'s predominantly working class and Mexican Echo Park, who aspires to have the same fancy quinceanera as her cousin Eileen.
Instead, Magdalena will have Eileen's dress dyed pink -- and it is during its alterations that family members begin to have their suspicions that she's with child.
After two pregnancy tests confirm as much, Magdalena's religious father, Ernesto, turns his back on her, despite her claims she's never been with a boy in the biblical sense.
"A woman who hasn't been with a man, doesn't end up with a baby. Period," he says.
But Magdalena's assertions will have further significance as the story progresses.
Carlos lives with an elderly and kind uncle Tomas (veteran actor Chalo Gonzalez) and two dogs in a small garden house in the backyard of a home owned by a gay couple, and the two outsiders open their doors to Magdalena.
Things become further complicated when Carlos, who's initially involved in a three-way with the landlords, begins an affair with just one of them.
While Rios, Garcia and Gonzalez are all good in their roles, more time should have been spent on the story and script, which was written in a paltry three weeks and it shows.
The virgin birth aspect of the film doesn't really go anywhere and the back story of Tomas, elegantly played by Gonzalez, who steals most of the scenes he's in some 37 years after his debut in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, is often more intriguing.
Still, the filmmakers show off Echo Park, where they actually live, in all its vibrant glory, and flesh out the significance of the quinceanera with larger issues of neighbourhood gentrification, teenage pregnancy, homophobia, non-traditional families and tolerance.
Quinceanera, which won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance earlier this year, is in English and Spanish with English subtitles.
BOTTOM LINE: Despite some nice performances from newcomer Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia (The Shield) and Chalo Gonzalez (The Wild Bunch), this film about a pregnant teenager in L.A.'s predominantly Mexican and working-class Echo Park neighbourhood needs some story and script work.
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