SUNDANCE 2006: quinceanera
A quinceanera is a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday… this is the day in the Mexican culture when a girl becomes a woman. While in preparation for this, 14 (almost 15) year-old Magdalena makes a troubling discovery… she is pregnant. The only thing is that she has not yet had sex. Of course her parents do not believe her, so she is kicked out of her house and is forced to move in with her uncle and her misfit cousin Carlos. Carlos has a drama of his own. He has been ostracized from the family because he is a homosexual. While living with his uncle, he starts an affair with his two gay neighbors.
I didn't find either of these stories very interesting at all. Some might, but I found them rather trite and forced. The homosexual story line felt like the manifestation of a dream by the two homosexual directors. The similarities are uncanny. The characters look like the directors, one is British (as is one of the directors) and they live in the same neighborhood that the story takes place. Granted, if I had not seen this film at Sundance, I would have never seen or heard the directors. Unfortunatley for the film, I did. This made the movie feel more like a fantasy than an actual film.
QUINCEANERA won not only the Grand Jury Prize, but also the Audience Award at this years Sundance Film Festival. Now it is obvious that it is not my favorite, but it appears that many people did like it quite a bit. It is not a poorly made film; I just personally didn’t like either story. I didn’t find the characters or their world to be interesting.
The only other time that the Grand Jury and the Audience Award went to same film was coincidentally the last time I was at Sundance. 1999 – The film was THREE SEASONS. I just found that interesting. Another little tid bit that just hit the internet… One of the directors (Wash Westmoreland) it turns out is a successful gay porn director. I don’t know if this will effect the release of the film, but I hope not. Just because I don’t like his film doesn’t mean that I think his past should be used to hurt it.
I didn't find either of these stories very interesting at all. Some might, but I found them rather trite and forced. The homosexual story line felt like the manifestation of a dream by the two homosexual directors. The similarities are uncanny. The characters look like the directors, one is British (as is one of the directors) and they live in the same neighborhood that the story takes place. Granted, if I had not seen this film at Sundance, I would have never seen or heard the directors. Unfortunatley for the film, I did. This made the movie feel more like a fantasy than an actual film.
QUINCEANERA won not only the Grand Jury Prize, but also the Audience Award at this years Sundance Film Festival. Now it is obvious that it is not my favorite, but it appears that many people did like it quite a bit. It is not a poorly made film; I just personally didn’t like either story. I didn’t find the characters or their world to be interesting.
The only other time that the Grand Jury and the Audience Award went to same film was coincidentally the last time I was at Sundance. 1999 – The film was THREE SEASONS. I just found that interesting. Another little tid bit that just hit the internet… One of the directors (Wash Westmoreland) it turns out is a successful gay porn director. I don’t know if this will effect the release of the film, but I hope not. Just because I don’t like his film doesn’t mean that I think his past should be used to hurt it.
posted by Humby | 7:19 PM
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