Quinceanera

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Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's Quinceanera (Sony Pictures Classics) is a nice little cultural mixer (gays and Hispanics in L.A.'s Echo Lake district) and an above-average indie drama. The story moves along, nothing feels arch or forced, and all but one of the characters are likable. The one who isn't -- the problem -- is Emily Rios, who plays the central character of Magdelena, whose pregnancy gets her kicked out of her home and leads to her staying with an 80-something uncle (Chalo Gonzalez) along her gay cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia), etc. The glitch is that Rios plays her character like a sourpuss all through -- irritated, frowning, scowling -- and spending time with her is a drag. It's not Rios herself -- she's lively enough off-screen -- but Glatzer and Westmoreland's decision to cover Magdelena in downer molasses.

Quinceanera star Emily Rios "playing" Magdelena in a poster shot for the film (l.) and at last month's Seattle Film Festival (r.)

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 7, 2006 at 7:48 PM

comment #1

T H says ...

Yeah I found that too and in interviews she always talks about the character having a lot of pride, but I think she interpreted that as too proud to giggle and smile, just proud to accept her circumstances, hence the frown and morass. I also had timeline issues with the party in the beginning of the movie, but this movie is a charmer with audiences. The audience I saw it with was ecstatic, and it was a two hankie movie for about a quarter of the audience. Certainly a chick flick or a flick a guy can impress a girl with for his sensitivity in thinking of it.

Posted by T H at August 8, 2006 12:07 AM

comment #2

Anonymous says ...

So, I've seen Quincenera twice. Both times after Sundance. I was offered a screening beforehand, but wasn't all that interested.

Both screenings were a solid 'okay.' Wasn't enamored with Emily or most of the cast. Who I was driven to was Jesse Garcia. A very dynamic performance. Script, eh. Direction, big eh.

Is it a decent movie? Sure. What I was shocked by was the low visuals, poor cinematic element. There were moments few and far between. Will it do well theatrically? Unfortunately not. SPC's gonna lose some cash.

Posted by Anonymous at August 8, 2006 12:24 AM

comment #3

T H says ...

Nope, it's going to surprise you -- it's the next urban picture after Saw, Hostel, Nacho Libre and Tokyo Drift. Not that this matters to audiences, but it was made in 18 days, 3 six day weeks, 18 is the new 24, which was considered draconian. And by the way, even those low budget 4 week shooters took between 3 to 9 months of post.

Posted by T H at August 8, 2006 12:34 AM

comment #4

Craig says ...

"all but one of the characters are likable"

Are you forgetting the gay couple?

Posted by Craig at August 8, 2006 5:38 AM

comment #5

Bridup says ...

"Echo Lake"? Is that a new amalgam of Echo Park and Silver Lake?

I loved Emily Rios in this film. A very real performance, reminded me of so many smart, wary girls.

Posted by Bridup at August 8, 2006 7:46 AM

comment #6

Thung says ...

Echo Park Lake district is what he meant. The movie's not that great, but it'll charm the pants off of you, take a friend.

Posted by Thung at August 8, 2006 8:16 AM

comment #7

Sara Michelle says ...

I couldn't disagree more. I felt Rios gave a beautiful, remarkably internalized performance that really snuck up on me as the film went on. She touched my heart, and by the time the picture reached its conclusion I was struck by just how much she impressed me.

You're definitely right about how likable she is in person, though. Interviewing her has been one of the more pleasingly intoxicating experiences I've had all year.

Posted by Sara Michelle at August 8, 2006 8:42 AM

comment #8

CorporateWhore says ...

Wow, praising a movie that runs huge advertisements on your site. How surprising.

Posted by CorporateWhore at August 8, 2006 9:12 AM

comment #9

Alexander says ...

It's just okay. I rarely say that about films anymore, but this is one case where it's true. It's just an okay film with some good performances and some not-so-good ones. The direction is really, really poor, though, as the anonymous person said above.

Posted by Alexander at August 8, 2006 10:00 AM

comment #10

Anonymous says ...

This is ridiculous, the movie is an ensemble cast and about so much more.

"QuinceaÃ±era" is set in the increasingly gentrified Los Angeles community of Echo Park. There, quasi-assimilated Mexicans are being pushed out by monied yuppiesâ€¦.

In the middle of this cultural maelstrom is the provocatively named Magdalena (Emily Rios)â€¦.

She is, like her cousin Carlos [played by Jesse Garcia], thrown out of her home by her preacher/policeman father (Jesus Castanos-Chima). The two find a home with their great-great-uncle Tomas (the wonderful Chalo Gonzalez), â€¦.

"QuinceaÃ±era's" weighty messages - about families being where you find them, religious hypocrisy and the economic disenfranchisement of people who allegedly are involved in a hostile invasion of America - are counterbalanced by the occasionally improvisational dialogue, the simple storytelling and the freshness of the untutored actors (with the exception of the veteran Gonzalez).

taken from a review by John Anderson in Newsday.

Posted by Anonymous at August 8, 2006 10:46 AM

comment #11

SundanceSucks says ...

This movie is so sterotypically "Sundance" that it is almost makes a mockery of the whole festival.

Posted by SundanceSucks at August 8, 2006 3:06 PM

comment #12

T. H. Ung says ...

Hey Sundandce Sucks, you're angry because Half Nelson didn't win. Quinceanera is only the second feature to capture both the audience and jury awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

Sundancers don't think that a woman has to smile and giggle on screen for people to like her. She can't fit into her Quinceanera dress because she's pregnant, she's not well-off, her boyfriend's a snake and has been sent away by his even snakier mother and her father's kicked her out. Forlorn is harder to play than glib, she did an admirable job, really, and the movie is special because of it.

Posted by T. H. Ung at August 9, 2006 11:31 AM

comment #13

asd says ...

Quinceanera struck me as an astoundingly safe choice for the jury. I didn't see the film at festival (word of mouth was a complete flat-line in the circles I was traveling in) so I didn't see how the crowds were responding to it, but it's such a self-consciously "indie" film complete with an all-encompassing social issue all good liberals can get behind (gentrification is bad, boo!) and enough minority demographics being represented to disguise the fact that the film isn't that far removed from an afterschool special. The adolescent performers are for the most part fine (I don't especially have an issue with Emily Rio's "glum" performance) but with the exception of Chalo GonzÃ¡Â¬Â¥z's kindly great-uncle I found all the adult performances embarrassingly stilted. So much of the film hits you square on the nose (beginning with naming your female protagonist who's been ostricized for perceived sexually imporpriety Magdelena) and is so dramatically inert, I wonder if the jury didn't just feel like rewarding the runt of the litter. Not really a bad film per say but I would have given the jury prize to Half Nelson, Flannel Pajamas or Steel City.

Posted by asd at August 9, 2006 8:51 PM

comment #14