Quinceañera (2006)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Richard Glatzer
Wash Westmoreland

Writers:

Richard Glatzer (writer)
Wash Westmoreland (writer)

Release Date:

5 JÚLIUS 2006 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she's pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.

Plot Keywords:

Gay | Trio | Limousine | Preacher | Infidelity

Awards:

7 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Jesus Castanos	...	Ernesto (as Jesus Castanos Chima)
Araceli Guzman-Rico	...	Maria
Emily Rios	...	Magdalena
J.R. Cruz	...	Herman
Listette Avila	...	Jessica
Alicia Sixtos	...	Eileen May Garcia
Hector Quevedo	...	Dancing Boy
Germán Campos	...	Chambelàn (as German Zavala)
Carlos Linares	...	Videographer
Johnny Chavez	...	Uncle Walter
Carmen Aguirre	...	Aunt Silvia
Margarita Lugo	...	Aunt Candy
Jorge Ortiz	...	DJ
Veronica Sixtos	...	Young Girl
Jesse Garcia	...	Carlos

Also Known As:

Echo Park, L.A. (UK)
Sweet Fifteen (Australia) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexual content and drug use.

Runtime:

90 min | UK:90 min (uncut)

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | UK:15 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:16 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Echo Park Lake, Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinetic Media

Trivia:

Because of time constraints, the producers had still not found an actor to play James just before shooting was set to start, so they asked the casting director, Jason L. Wood, to play the part, because they liked how he had read the part as the other side of dialogue during actors' auditions. Wood was hesitant to take an acting part because he was worried that it might be a conflict of interest with his career as a casting agent, but he finally relented when the producers assured him he wouldn't have to cry in the film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Herman describes his busy weekend, he states that he is taking his AP History exam on Saturday. AP exams are only given on weekdays.

Quotes:

Carlos: [at Tio Tomas' funeral] Tomas Alvarez was born in Jalisco, Mexico in 1921. The 13th kid out of 22. When he was born, he was so small, the midwife said he wasn't worth washing. But he ended up outliving all of them. In his life, he was an office boy, a barber and a farm worker. Then in America, he sold champurrado. Everybody knew him. If you walk down the street, he would stop every two minutes to talk to someone. They were always happy to see him.
[pauses]
Carlos: He had a love inside him that was so strong. It came from his heart and out through his eyes like a golden light. Everybody could see it, because he loved everyone and judged no one. At the end of my life, I will count it as my greatest privilege that I knew a saint. Because Tomas Alvarez was a saint. And he will not leave us. His spirit is still strong. He will be with us 'til the end of our days.

Movie Connections:

References "America's Next Top Model" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Pica Pica

Surely One of the Finest Films of the Year

'Quinceañera' is a little miracle of a film. Written and directed by the sensitive team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland ('The Fluffer', 'Grief') this independent film garnered many awards at the Sundance Festival and rightly so. For the first time a film about the Latino community in Los Angeles is presented without the usual onerous stereotypes but instead with all the idiosyncrasies of a culture within a culture that respects place, time, extended family, the individual choices that demand courage, and the wondrously warm festivities and traditions that make this part of Los Angeles milieu so unique and special.

Made on a budget of around $250,000. with the money being raised by producers who solely believed in an idea (no script was ready at the time of solicitation of support) presented Glatzer and Westmoreland who lived in the Echo Park area of downtown LA and had witnessed the traditional coming of age at 15 with the special presentation to society of girls becoming women called Quinceañera: they felt a story was there. Gathering a cast of both known and unknown actors who felt as committed to the concept as the production team, Glatzer and Westmoreland wrote the script as the film progressed, using extemporaneous lines from the cast on set as part of the atmosphere. The end product is a loving, unpretentious, realistic story rendered without the slightest trace of treacle or overindulgence in histrionics or false sentimentality.

Magdalena (a strong Emily Rios) is 14, awaiting her quinceañera, knowing that her family cannot afford the extravagance of the event in which she has just been a participant. Her father is a preacher and will not consider spending money for a new dress or a limo for her party and while her mother supports Magdalena's wants, she succumbs to the realities of the finances of the family. Magdalena has a young boyfriend Herman (J.R. Cruz) and though they are careful with intimacy, Magdalena becomes pregnant without penetration. When her family discovers her pregnancy, no one will believe she is still in fact a virgin and she is castigated by her father (Jesus Castanos) and thrown from her home. Herman loves her but obeys his mother's wishes that he complete school and he leaves Echo Park, deserting Magdalena. Magdalena finds solace with her great granduncle Tio Tomas Alvarez (a brilliant Chalo González) who lives in back of a property in a home filled with love, memories, kindness, and tradition. He has also taken in the young pseudo-gansta Carlos (an impressively strong and hunky Jesse Garcia) who discovers he is gay when he comes out with the gay couple (David Ross and Jason L. Wood) who own the property in front of Tio's little place.

Gradually Magdalena and Carlos bond under the influence of their Tio Tomas, learning the important life lessons of family and self respect, healing from the injuries that are similar to the disappointments of Tio Tomas' past. It is the manner in which these three become a strong extended family, mutually supportive, that is the strength of the story, and when Tio Tomas suffers yet another disappointment in his life, he at age 81 dies quietly, leaving Magdalena and Carlos the richer for their time with him.

The supporting cast, drawn from professional actors, local theater and from the people of Echo Park, is uniformly strong and presents an unfettered sense of realism to the film. There are many exemplary moments: Magdalena and her father argue over her pregnancy in a bilingual fashion - the father screams in Spanish and Magdalena screams back in English, a finely integrated demonstration of the crossing of language and culture so well presented in the film; Carlos' eulogy at Tio Tomas' funeral is one of the more powerful monologues on film and is superbly delivered by the very talented Jesse Garcia; finally a look at the gay Spanish population so taboo in other films, again due to the fine acting of Garcia with Ross and Wood; and the preparations and executions of the actual quinceañeras are true to life. This is a film of love on the part of everyone involved and it is powerful in its simple realism. Highly recommended for everyone. Grady Harp