Magdalena’s
preoccupied with her gabby school pals, her
sturdy, nice‑guy boyfriend, and her
upcoming quinceañera, a festive rite of passage
marking her 15th birthday, which she hopes
to celebrate with a gown, a Hummer limo, and
enough pomp to rival prom night.
Though
Magdalena insists she and her beau have never
had sex, she winds up pregnant, shamed by
her preacher father into leaving the house
and moving in with her great‑great‑uncle
Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez) and her gay cousin
Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a pariah to his own
father.
Together,
these three begin to form a tight little family
unit that must rally when they find themselves
at odds with the new owners of their rental
house (David W. Ross and Jason L. Wood).
“Quinceañera”
pulled a rare feat at Sundance last January,
winning both the jury prize for best dramatic
feature and the award as audience favorite.
The
double win owes as much to the thin competition
at this year’s lackluster Sundance festival
as it does to the quality of the film, though.
Most years, “Quinceañera” would have been
a middle‑of‑the‑pack entry
at the Sundance competition, whose contenders
have included “American Splendor,” “The Station
Agent,” “You Can Count on Me” and “In the
Bedroom.”
“Quinceañera”
is a fine film, though not on the level of
those predecessors. The story ultimately is
rather thin, and after building its various
character conflicts, the film deflates near
the end, everything wrapping up too abruptly
and neatly.
It
doesn’t leave you thinking about much other
than: Hey, maybe we can all just get along.
Glatzer
and Westmoreland present a loving look at
Echo Park, where they’ve lived since 2001.
Two years ago, they were asked to photograph
a neighbor’s quinceañera, an event they found
wrought with pageantry and a surprising mix
of Mexican tradition and American pop culture.
They
decided on New Year’s Day in 2005 to make
a film about their neighborhood, quickly secured
financing, dashed off a script and found their
Hispanic neighbors rallying to provide extras,
props, shooting locations and other support.
Within
nine months, their film was ready for submission
to Sundance.
Evoking
a palpable sense of a neighborhood in flux,
“Quinceañera” is a love song to the diversity
of America and the importance of maintaining
tradition, even if those traditions have to
bend a bit to accommodate changing times.
