Quinceañera (Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland, 2006)

[Michael]

Anybody seen this? The fact that Todd Haynes is one of the film's producers caught my attention. I'm considering about picking up the DVD which was released a few days ago.

[Lemmy Caution]

Just watched Quinceanera, and was very disappointed. A glorified after-school special -- updated to include Latinos and gays -- with all of the characters remaining flat and underdeveloped. I thought this was a very clumsy, poorly written film. Once tuned into the amateurish plotting, it was easy to guess the next steps. The soundtrack should have been full of tapping sounds, as all of the plot and emotions were so blatantly telegraphed. Somewhat of an insult to the audience, as the film made sure the audience knew everything it was supposed to feel. Just an utter lack of subtlety throughout. Also, I found most of the dialogue to be totally unconvincing, both in content and delivery. Seemed like mediocre-to-inept Filmmaking 101 to me.

I dislike the modern crop of films about Los Angeles. Things like Spanglish, Crash, and now I can add Quincean~era to the growing list. Often these LA films are issue-oriented, hip/pc, mildly controversial films written by well-off white guys. They tend to ring false and phony to me. Hopefully I'll remember to skip the next one.

[marty]

Yep, I have seen the film. It's kinda cute in the Little Miss Sunshine way but has a harder edge. The film just manages never to tip over the sentimental edge and retains its charms. The film has several different subplots and threads including a gay one (well, these guys did direct The Fluffer) that is well-handled and quite moving. It makes you all warm and fuzzy but never makes you want to throw up. I liked it.

[David Ehrenstein]

A much tougher-edged film than its being credit for. Wash and Richard are an Anglo couple who live in Echo Park, like the Anglo couple in the film. But that fictional couple is far from idealized. They're ther heavies in point of fact.

I don't recall an Afterschool Special about gay chulos and virgin births

[Michael]

Got around watching Quinceañero this morning. Jesse Garcia is the Mexican Stephane Rideau! His presense was so intense that it was impossible to take my eyes off him. Having a Latin partner for nearly ten years, I attended a couple of quinceañeros which turned out interesting and completely foreign to me. What they didn't show in the film is that at a quinceañro party, the father changes his daughter's flat shoes and replaces them with new shoes with high heels. An obvious symbol of the change into womanhood.

Lemmy Caution's disappointment is understandable. The film does have the look and quality that isn't any different from what you see on TV, especially the Lifetime channel. Nothing about the filmmaking stood out to me. Except for some wonderful acting by Jesse Garcia and Emily Rios. The two topics rarely discussed elsewhere - gay gangsters and "virgin birth" - are what makes the film at least interesting to watch but I wish the story could gel better..it's kind of loose I think. Definitely watchable and far better than most gay film festival favorites.

A nice and decent film to watch if you don't have anything to watch on a weekend morning.

It's kinda cute in the Little Miss Sunshine way but has a harder edge.

Well I don't see anything cute in or about Little Miss Sunshine. It's a dark film.