list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Quinceañera on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Quincea_era/273048/default.aspx Title: Quinceañera
Year: 2006
Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Plot: A Hispanic teenager travels the rough road to adult responsibility earlier than she expected in this independent drama. Magdalena (Emily Rios) is a young Latina who is looking forward to her upcoming quinceañera celebration -- the 15th birthday party that marks the passage into adulthood for Mexican-American women. Magdalena's expectations are raised by the lavish party her older cousin Eileen (Alicia Sixtos) gets for the occasion, but Magdalena's mother (Araceli Guzman-Rico) and father (Jesus Castanos-Chima) insist on a lower-key affair that will focus on the more responsible aspects of grown-up life. However, Magdalena gets a crash course in that subject when she discovers she's pregnant with the child of her boyfriend, Herman (J.R. Cruz); life at home becomes unbearable for her, and she leaves to live with her more sympathetic uncle, Tio Thomas (Chalo Gonzalez). Home for Tio Thomas and Magdalena is a small apartment in a building owned by James (Jason L. Wood) and Gary (David W. Ross), a gay couple looking to gentrify the neighborhood. Magdalena strikes up a friendship with her cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a roughneck teen with a good heart who is also on the outs with his family when they discover he's experimenting with his sexuality. Produced in part by Todd Haynes, Quinceañera received its premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 1
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Number of blog posts: 4
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:01:15 GMTQuinceañera2006Richard Glatzer, Wash WestmorelandA Hispanic teenager travels the rough road to adult responsibility earlier than she expected in this independent drama. Magdalena (Emily Rios) is a young Latina who is looking forward to her upcoming <I>quinceañera</I> celebration -- the 15th birthday party that marks the passage into adulthood for Mexican-American women. Magdalena's expectations are raised by the lavish party her older cousin Eileen (Alicia Sixtos) gets for the occasion, but Magdalena's mother (Araceli Guzman-Rico) and father (Jesus Castanos-Chima) insist on a lower-key affair that will focus on the more responsible aspects of grown-up life. However, Magdalena gets a crash course in that subject when she discovers she's pregnant with the child of her boyfriend, Herman (J.R. Cruz); life at home becomes unbearable for her, and she leaves to live with her more sympathetic uncle, Tio Thomas (Chalo Gonzalez). Home for Tio Thomas and Magdalena is a small apartment in a building owned by James (Jason L. Wood) and Gary (David W. Ross), a gay couple looking to gentrify the neighborhood. Magdalena strikes up a friendship with her cousin Carlos (<a href="/players/P____25849/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jesse Garcia</a>), a roughneck teen with a good heart who is also on the outs with his family when they discover he's experimenting with his sexuality. Produced in part by <a href="/players/P____93836/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Todd Haynes</a>, Quinceañera received its premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide1Slightly Tagged (1-5)843http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t90102tsosp.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Quincea_era/273048/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/thefilmpanelnotetaker/archive/2008/7/27/33148.aspx Post By: thefilmpanelnotetaker
Post To: thefilmpanelnotetaker Blog
Post Date: 7/27/2008 8:01:15 PM
Body: New York International Latino Film FestivalNickel N’ Diming Financing – Find the Right DealJuly 24, 2008On Thursday, I attended for the very first time the New York International Latino Film Festival, which presented over 100 films throughout the week. Earlier in the day after picking up my press badge from the Roger Smith Hotel, I hopped over to the Directors Guild Theater to see the film Mancora from Peru (the filmmakers were not present for that, so unfortunately, I have no Q&A notes, other than to say that I thought it was a fairly good film, which sort of reminded me of Y Tu Mama Tambien, which is the much better of the two.) Then I went over to Showbiz Software for a panel discussion on film financing, coordinated by Edwin Pagan, who made a brief introduction. The panelists touched on a number of topics ranging from ways to go about finding funding for your first films to finding a universal appeal for a broader audience, and a brief case study on how the indie film Quinceañera was funded by a community. Here are highlights from the discussion:Moderator:Bienvenida Matías – Executive Director, Association of Hispanic ArtsPanelists:Pooja Kohli Taneja – Founder, FilmKaravan – Curator, Filmmaker, ProducerFernando Ramírez, Esq. – Entertainment AttorneyPhil Bertelsen – Filmmaker, ProducerNicholas Levis – Ovie Entertainment, ProducerSlava Rubin – IndieGoGo, Co-FounderMike Sergeant – Filmmaker, ProducerMatías: How do you get your first money to make your film?Bertelsen: The first money is the hardest. I’m sure that’s not a newsflash. Typically it comes from well-established relationships including friends and family. Ultimately, the first money comes when you can demonstrate the reliability of your project. The trick is to get around the whole catch 22 when they say, what have you done before? If there was kind of a magic formula to that, I would have bottled it by now and sold it and paying for the rest of my career.Kohli: I think before you get into the game, you need very little money to actually build alliances…people who get on board early, which can be organizations or grants…that align with your project.Rubin: IndieGoGo is an online marketplace to connect filmmakers to fans. We’re giving the tools to filmmakers for fundraising. The filmmakers have already raised tens of thousands of dollars on IndieGoGo. Some of them have already had established films in their prior careers and their building their audiences online to turn that into money for their next films. Many of the filmmakers for the first time are raising between $500 to $10,000.Bertelsen: Your first money can be a very strategic proposition. It doesn’t require everything up front. It’s about building partnerships, whether it be with established filmmakers, production companies, websites, etc. A lot of times, the early work of getting the first money is just a matter of forming relationships who can give you credibility as a filmmaker and give your story the legitimacy you know that it has.Matías: Many filmmakers here are everything…we produce, direct, hand out the coffee, edit. How do you feel about that?Levis: Start with a package that ultimately you want to get to an investor. These partnerships are intended to tell a sophisticated investor what you’re looking for and that the return for them is there. My belief is that you strengthen yourself by delegating to individuals that will strengthen your project. You may be an amazing director, but you find a producer who is better at producing. Just because you’re a great producer, doesn’t mean you’re a great distributor. Finding your alliances and building a team…the bigger the team is that you trust, the further you’ll go.Matías: When should filmmakers think of getting an attorney as part of the team?Ramírez: Let me first say that I tend to think of funding as falling into two broad categories:Obtain secure funding from grants and foundations (ie. The Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation). That tends to be for the most part for social-themed documentaries. It takes a long time however. They usually want to see a body of work and someone with experience. It’s also an investment that’s going to pay off on their part.Private equity…trying to get money from sophisticated investors. That tends to be a significantly more complicated process because you’re dealing with securities. You have to go through processes like registering with the SEC or blue sky agencies or coming up with documents that will have enough information for sophisticated investors to make an informed decision regarding their investment, because it is a really risky business.Levis: The earlier you bring in council (and accounting), the better. Building that team is such an imperative aspect. At times, it may seem a little overwhelming, but there’s a lot of individuals out there that realize that risk. A great filmmaker or producer does not make a good lawyer or account, so asking as many questions as you can and getting free advice, so that way when you are approaching grants or private equity, you’ve got your numbers down. You have all those answers that are so important to them.Rubin: One of the things that’s important to ask yourself is what are your goals for your movie? It can be just an artistic expression. It can be because you want to change your career and do this for a living…whether it’s a success or not. Be realistic. Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight) is obviously now a rich man. His first movie cost $11,000.Matías: When thinking about how to raise money, how do you divvy up the budget so you can understand who you’re going to approach?Bertelsen: I think it starts much like Slava was saying by asking what your goals are. Ask yourself, who is the audience for this film? When you start to examine your project, you make decisions on who would be appropriate person to bring this to. For example, you’re not going to bring a low-budget indie horror film to a structurally themed documentary production company. It goes without saying, but you’d be surprised at how many first-time filmmakers don’t read the guidelines and don’t pay attention to what’s being asked of them when it comes to how to prerequisite their projects. You want to be very targeted. You’ve got to do your homework and know what it is they’re looking for. Tailor your projects to those interests the best that you can.Kohli: I think it’s very important to do that homework he mentioned. Who are the players in the market and what they do? Exactly the way you have goals for your films, they have goals for their money. You need to be ready to understand who is most interested in your project. Be realistic. Who was the last you? Who did exactly what you’re trying to do? Learn from their mistakes.Sergeant: Be creative and you have to be willing to really go that extra mile. I was going to do a narrative film depending on what it would cost. When you’re doing a narrative film, anybody who’s an investor or wherever you raise money, they want to know, ‘how can I get this back?’ A movie is one of the quickest ways to lose millions of dollars really fast.Ramírez: All that information on how prepared you are should be a in a business plan. There’s a series of books out there, one that I’ve talked about on panels before is by Louise Levinson, Business Plans for Filmmakers. You’re going to have to do the research on what the market is and projections. What type of films like yours have made money? You also have to be honest for instance, these films like mine, have not made money, but most have. I was watching Quinceañera…I was so shocked in the interviews…I think they had an idea for a movie. They went to somebody. They had the money before they even had scripts. I had to rewind that. I don’t think that really happensLevis: With the packaging and everything’s in place, there are so many key elements where things can go awry. It must be frustrating even after you’ve made a few films to locate the money. The global market is such a changing one. Last tear investors on Wall Street were really aggressive, but with the economy changing so much since last year, the opportunities are not there. Europe is looking to us now, because their money is so much stronger. Right now the pound is two-to-one. That means if you can start to talk to individuals there now that for instance say they’d like to shoot in New York City…what would cost 500,000 pounds here, I can easily get $1 million American. Things kind of equal the same. The day rate here, the day rate there. That’s true with a lot of European money. They’re really looking to the U.S. because everyone wants that U.S. affiliation. The opportunity to present yourself with a co-production company out of Spain or France or London…what you’re doing ultimately is giving them the opportunity to send their money and it goes further. Your business plan should also think about what happens outside the U.S.Rubin: The Hollywood system has a term called pre-selling of foreign territories.Matías: Historically, it has been difficult for us as Latinos and Latinas to be able to break into making these films and finding this money. Have things changed? Is it easier? Do we have topics that people want? Are our own communities willing to support what might not be mainstream, even by indie definitions?Bertelsen: It is an increasingly global marketplace. I think that only adds value to our stories as Latinos, as people of color, and women in a world where we have to make up the majority. I think the goal is to find a way to reach that audience.Ramírez: I often hear that a film has to have a universal appeal. How as a filmmaker of color and you want to make a film that portrays the experience of your community in a way that’s appealing? How can we make films that can get picked up by distributors?Kohli: From a South Asian angle, filmmakers like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta tell South Asian stories, but these are not stories for the South Asian market. These are stories that people all over the world want to hear. I think a good film from any angle, the simplest way for you to have a barometer is if people can somehow relate to it. A story we can feel, we can be a part of. That in the simplest form is a success. If you can take what is in your film to an audience that is not you…you don’t want people like you sitting in the audience watching this film, but you want people who are not like you to be able to see like you. Vanaja that went to over 100 festivals and won about 30 awards was released by Emerging Pictures, it did numbers that were less than 10% in South Asian markets. Be able to convince someone who’s not you about the story. I think people want not to educated the audience with every film. Try not to beat them on the head with it. You can get the story across in a way that delivers the message, but if you’re going for an audience that’s not your core audience, you need to make it slightly easy for them.Bertelsen: The onus on us as filmmakers of color is to prove those economics. In addition to all the things to get in the room, be prepared to make the argument with the market research.Matías: To get back to the issue of Quinceañera, the film did not have a script when they got the money. They had an idea. They had lived in the neighborhood. They had been involved with the whole ceremony of the quinceañeras. They were connected to a whole group of people who had money. It was the group of people who gave them the money, and they said, now I have to go out and make a script. They made the script in a very short amount of time. The reason that film works is they worked with the community. They found the Madrina, the woman in the community who really knew how to teach everyone how to participate in a quinceañera ceremony. That’s really what gave the film its authenticity of a right of passage for a young woman. Originally posted on:The Film Panel Notetaker - Miss a panel discussion? Don't worry! We took notes for you.
]]>Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:01:15 GMTthefilmpanelnotetakerthefilmpanelnotetaker Blog7/27/2008 8:01:15 PMNew York International Latino Film FestivalNickel N’ Diming Financing – Find the Right DealJuly 24, 2008On Thursday, I attended for the very first time the New York International Latino Film Festival, which presented over 100 films throughout the week. Earlier in the day after picking up my press badge from the Roger Smith Hotel, I hopped over to the Directors Guild Theater to see the film Mancora from Peru (the filmmakers were not present for that, so unfortunately, I have no Q&A notes, other than to say that I thought it was a fairly good film, which sort of reminded me of Y Tu Mama Tambien, which is the much better of the two.) Then I went over to Showbiz Software for a panel discussion on film financing, coordinated by Edwin Pagan, who made a brief introduction. The panelists touched on a number of topics ranging from ways to go about finding funding for your first films to finding a universal appeal for a broader audience, and a brief case study on how the indie film Quinceañera was funded by a community. Here are highlights from the discussion:Moderator:Bienvenida Matías – Executive Director, Association of Hispanic ArtsPanelists:Pooja Kohli Taneja – Founder, FilmKaravan – Curator, Filmmaker, ProducerFernando Ramírez, Esq. – Entertainment AttorneyPhil Bertelsen – Filmmaker, ProducerNicholas Levis – Ovie Entertainment, ProducerSlava Rubin – IndieGoGo, Co-FounderMike Sergeant – Filmmaker, ProducerMatías: How do you get your first money to make your film?Bertelsen: The first money is the hardest. I’m sure that’s not a newsflash. Typically it comes from well-established relationships including friends and family. Ultimately, the first money comes when you can demonstrate the reliability of your project. The trick is to get around the whole catch 22 when they say, what have you done before? If there was kind of a magic formula to that, I would have bottled it by now and sold it and paying for the rest of my career.Kohli: I think before you get into the game, you need very little money to actually build alliances…people who get on board early, which can be organizations or grants…that align with your project.Rubin: IndieGoGo is an online marketplace to connect filmmakers to fans. We’re giving the tools to filmmakers for fundraising. The filmmakers have already raised tens of thousands of dollars on IndieGoGo. Some of them have already had established films in their prior careers and their building their audiences online to turn that into money for their next films. Many of the filmmakers for the first time are raising between $500 to $10,000.Bertelsen: Your first money can be a very strategic proposition. It doesn’t require everything up front. It’s about building partnerships, whether it be with established filmmakers, production companies, websites, etc. A lot of times, the early work of getting the first money is just a matter of forming relationships who can give you credibility as a filmmaker and give your story the legitimacy you know that it has.Matías: Many filmmakers here are everything…we produce, direct, hand out the coffee, edit. How do you feel about that?Levis: Start with a package that ultimately you want to get to an investor. These partnerships are intended to tell a sophisticated investor what you’re looking for and that the return for them is there. My belief is that you strengthen yourself by delegating to individuals that will strengthen your project. You may be an amazing director, but you find a producer who is better at producing. Just because you’re a great producer, doesn’t mean you’re a great distributor. Finding your alliances and building a team…the bigger the team is that you trust, the further you’ll go.Matías: When should filmmakers think of getting an attorney as part of the team?Ramírez: Let me first say that I tend to think of funding as falling into two broad categories:Obtain secure funding from grants and foundations (ie. The Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation). That tends to be for the most part for social-themed documentaries. It takes a long time however. They usually want to see a body of work and someone with experience. It’s also an investment that’s going to pay off on their part.Private equity…trying to get money from sophisticated investors. That tends to be a significantly more complicated process because you’re dealing with securities. You have to go through processes like registering with the SEC or blue sky agencies or coming up with documents that will have enough information for sophisticated investors to make an informed decision regarding their investment, because it is a really risky business.Levis: The earlier you bring in council (and accounting), the better. Building that team is such an imperative aspect. At times, it may seem a little overwhelming, but there’s a lot of individuals out there that realize that risk. A great filmmaker or producer does not make a good lawyer or account, so asking as many questions as you can and getting free advice, so that way when you are approaching grants or private equity, you’ve got your numbers down. You have all those answers that are so important to them.Rubin: One of the things that’s important to ask yourself is what are your goals for your movie? It can be just an artistic expression. It can be because you want to change your career and do this for a living…whether it’s a success or not. Be realistic. Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight) is obviously now a rich man. His first movie cost $11,000.Matías: When thinking about how to raise money, how do you divvy up the budget so you can understand who you’re going to approach?Bertelsen: I think it starts much like Slava was saying by asking what your goals are. Ask yourself, who is the audience for this film? When you start to examine your project, you make decisions on who would be appropriate person to bring this to. For example, you’re not going to bring a low-budget indie horror film to a structurally themed documentary production company. It goes without saying, but you’d be surprised at how many first-time filmmakers don’t read the guidelines and don’t pay attention to what’s being asked of them when it comes to how to prerequisite their projects. You want to be very targeted. You’ve got to do your homework and know what it is they’re looking for. Tailor your projects to those interests the best that you can.Kohli: I think it’s very important to do that homework he mentioned. Who are the players in the market and what they do? Exactly the way you have goals for your films, they have goals for their money. You need to be ready to understand who is most interested in your project. Be realistic. Who was the last you? Who did exactly what you’re trying to do? Learn from their mistakes.Sergeant: Be creative and you have to be willing to really go that extra mile. I was going to do a narrative film depending on what it would cost. When you’re doing a narrative film, anybody who’s an investor or wherever you raise money, they want to know, ‘how can I get this back?’ A movie is one of the quickest ways to lose millions of dollars really fast.Ramírez: All that information on how prepared you are should be a in a business plan. There’s a series of books out there, one that I’ve talked about on panels before is by Louise Levinson, Business Plans for Filmmakers. You’re going to have to do the research on what the market is and projections. What type of films like yours have made money? You also have to be honest for instance, these films like mine, have not made money, but most have. I was watching Quinceañera…I was so shocked in the interviews…I think they had an idea for a movie. They went to somebody. They had the money before they even had scripts. I had to rewind that. I don’t think that really happensLevis: With the packaging and everything’s in place, there are so many key elements where things can go awry. It must be frustrating even after you’ve made a few films to locate the money. The global market is such a changing one. Last tear investors on Wall Street were really aggressive, but with the economy changing so much since last year, the opportunities are not there. Europe is looking to us now, because their money is so much stronger. Right now the pound is two-to-one. That means if you can start to talk to individuals there now that for instance say they’d like to shoot in New York City…what would cost 500,000 pounds here, I can easily get $1 million American. Things kind of equal the same. The day rate here, the day rate there. That’s true with a lot of European money. They’re really looking to the U.S. because everyone wants that U.S. affiliation. The opportunity to present yourself with a co-production company out of Spain or France or London…what you’re doing ultimately is giving them the opportunity to send their money and it goes further. Your business plan should also think about what happens outside the U.S.Rubin: The Hollywood system has a term called pre-selling of foreign territories.Matías: Historically, it has been difficult for us as Latinos and Latinas to be able to break into making these films and finding this money. Have things changed? Is it easier? Do we have topics that people want? Are our own communities willing to support what might not be mainstream, even by indie definitions?Bertelsen: It is an increasingly global marketplace. I think that only adds value to our stories as Latinos, as people of color, and women in a world where we have to make up the majority. I think the goal is to find a way to reach that audience.Ramírez: I often hear that a film has to have a universal appeal. How as a filmmaker of color and you want to make a film that portrays the experience of your community in a way that’s appealing? How can we make films that can get picked up by distributors?Kohli: From a South Asian angle, filmmakers like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta tell South Asian stories, but these are not stories for the South Asian market. These are stories that people all over the world want to hear. I think a good film from any angle, the simplest way for you to have a barometer is if people can somehow relate to it. A story we can feel, we can be a part of. That in the simplest form is a success. If you can take what is in your film to an audience that is not you…you don’t want people like you sitting in the audience watching this film, but you want people who are not like you to be able to see like you. Vanaja that went to over 100 festivals and won about 30 awards was released by Emerging Pictures, it did numbers that were less than 10% in South Asian markets. Be able to convince someone who’s not you about the story. I think people want not to educated the audience with every film. Try not to beat them on the head with it. You can get the story across in a way that delivers the message, but if you’re going for an audience that’s not your core audience, you need to make it slightly easy for them.Bertelsen: The onus on us as filmmakers of color is to prove those economics. In addition to all the things to get in the room, be prepared to make the argument with the market research.Matías: To get back to the issue of Quinceañera, the film did not have a script when they got the money. They had an idea. They had lived in the neighborhood. They had been involved with the whole ceremony of the quinceañeras. They were connected to a whole group of people who had money. It was the group of people who gave them the money, and they said, now I have to go out and make a script. They made the script in a very short amount of time. The reason that film works is they worked with the community. They found the Madrina, the woman in the community who really knew how to teach everyone how to participate in a quinceañera ceremony. That’s really what gave the film its authenticity of a right of passage for a young woman. Originally posted on:The Film Panel Notetaker - Miss a panel discussion? Don't worry! We took notes for you. http://www.spout.com/blogs/moviebabe/archive/2007/7/19/15352.aspx Post By: MovieBabe
Post To: MovieBabe Blog
Post Date: 7/19/2007 9:44:00 PM
Body: By Tricia Olszewski Quinceañera is a Bible story set in the universe of Hummer limos and gentrification. Old-World values clash against New-World realities in Los Angeles’ Echo Park neighborhood, where an extended Mexican-American family struggles with issues such as materialism, teen pregnancy, and homosexuality. There’s little lecturing, though, in co-writers and -directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s uplifting narrative, even as it fundamentally asks, WWJD? The tolerant Christ figure here is Tio Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), an elderly street vendor who feeds the hungry and embraces the outcast. He lives with his nephew Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a gang member who has been disowned by his parents and therefore sparks an uproar when he drops by his sister Eileen’s quinceañera, a weddinglike ceremony to mark her 15th birthday. Eileen (Alicia Sixtos), however, gets the royal treatment from the folks: Rather than a spiritual commemoration, Eileen’s day is one lavish party, with her friends cooing over her gorgeous dress, a stylized video remembrance, and a giant limo complete with stripper pole. The film, which easily flows between Spanish and English, opens with this celebration but then shifts to Eileen’s 14-year-old cousin, Magdalena (Emily Rios), whom later that night is told by her excited mother (Araceli Guzman-Rico) that someone has offered to alter Eileen’s dress for her own upcoming quinceañera. Naturally, Magdalena wants her own dress. And, if not that, at least a limo. But her preacher/security-guard father (Jesus Castanos) doesn’t have the money, and he’s determined to keep the event traditional instead of flashy. Magdalena pouts until she finds out she has a bigger problem—she’s pregnant, despite her insistence that she’s never had sex with her boyfriend, Herman (J.R. Cruz). Her mother wants to support her, but her dad throws her out of the house, leaving her with nowhere to go but Uncle Tio’s couch. He takes her in without question despite already sharing his home with Carlos, who we find out is gay. Quinceañera concentrates not on the teenagers’ “sins” but rather the good that lies underneath them. While the elders cluck over Magdalena’s pregnancy—Carlos’ sexuality is never really discussed—Tio, except for adding her picture to a backyard shrine where he’s been praying for Carlos, all but ignores it. Gonzalez is the highlight of the film, imbuing an already remarkable character with a pleasant gentleness as Tio tells stories and putters around his rich-toned, lived-in home. He expresses his unconditional love in the simplest terms: “I’m glad you have a friend,” he tells Carlos, who has been involved in three-way trysts with Tio’s new landlords that secretly morph into a relationship with one. His uncle doesn’t know these details, however, even after things turn sour—and a proactive Magdalena finds out not only how her landlords respond to a young Latina but also what available property, all light and clean lines, is now worth in her neighborhood. Rios and Garcia, too, are understated and natural, though Garcia’s Carlos hides his hurt under tough, silent, unsmiling posturing—Glatzer and Westmoreland are to be commended for completely avoiding the gay stereotype—he slowly becomes comfortable enough to reveal his strong sense of family and love of his new, untraditional clan. Rios’ Magdalena, meanwhile, is a combination of innocent little girl lost—her pregnancy has a medical explanation but is deemed a miracle—and spitfire teen as she at first fights those about to abandon her and then comes to accept that she’s about to grow up, and fast. In a time when 15-year-olds are still kids, Magdalena’s quinceañera ends up being a true, joyous mark on her path to adulthood. Poster Boy tells the story of the semicloseted gay son of a conservative senator, but its audience will be put to the tolerance test more so than its characters. Zak Tucker’s directorial debut, co-written by freshman Lecia Rosenthal and Ryan Shiraki (scribe of 2004’s superior Home of Phobia), may have Quinceañera’s good intentions regarding unconditional love. But combined with its facile attempt at political indictment and across-the-board caricature, Poster Boy is less thought-provoking than just plain irritating. Its very structure is off-putting: Framed as an obnoxiously gruff reporter’s interview with Henry (Matt Newton), his clash with his campaigning father, Sen. Jack Kray (Michael Lerner), is recounted in flashbacks. A college student who’s open about his sexuality on campus but not at home, Henry is combative when Dad demands that he introduce him at a rally to demonstrate his strong family values. Henry tries to get out of it but is blackmailed by a fellow student who’s assisting Kray. Meanwhile, other students are organizing a protest, and we’re introduced in a roundabout way to Izzie (Valerie Geffner), a sullen, ratty-haired woman who is HIV-positive, and her gay roommate, Anthony (Jack Noseworthy). Poster Boy is so sloppy that it uses the same extra to walk by two main characters twice in a handful of seconds. In an attempt to be edgy—or something—Tucker uses a hand-held camera to nauseating effect, bobbing around even during the most mundane conversations. (As well as during the ridiculous ones: “The fact is that for me, the flesh, the body, the whole materiality of being, is not something one controls!” spews Izzie at a party.) The main story, clearly based on Dick Cheney’s hypocrisy regarding his administration’s policies and his lesbian daughter, Mary, is muddled by its confusing, undeveloped subplots. Maybe that’s why it’s so over-the-top: Kray is too hateful to be believed, slapping Henry—whom he calls only “son”—as he insists upon his participation at the rally, “even if it means cutting a smile across your face with a knife.” (However, he’s assigned a bizarre bit of dialogue for such a career-driven person when he tells Henry that he needs to “get his priorities straight” and find a girl.) Lerner, who also played Angry Dad in last year’s equally terrible When Do We Eat?, certainly knows how to growl and threaten, yet he can’t help but look ridiculous in the role. There are exactly two compelling moments in the movie. One involves a monologue by Henry’s smarter-than-she-lets-on mother (Karen Allen), who takes her husband down a peg for mistreating their son. The other is Henry’s rant to his interviewer that pretty much summarizes Poster Boy’s message, in case you missed it: that politicians push “issues” such as homosexuality in voters’ faces to force them to take sides in the hope of gaining an edge, even if it’s at the expense of their personal integrity. By this point, however, the film’s integrity is long gone.
]]>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:44:00 GMTMovieBabeMovieBabe Blog7/19/2007 9:44:00 PM By Tricia Olszewski Quincea&ntilde;era is a Bible story set in the universe of Hummer limos and gentrification. Old-World values clash against New-World realities in Los Angeles&rsquo; Echo Park neighborhood, where an extended Mexican-American family struggles with issues such as materialism, teen pregnancy, and homosexuality. There&rsquo;s little lecturing, though, in co-writers and -directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland&rsquo;s uplifting narrative, even as it fundamentally asks, WWJD? The tolerant Christ figure here is Tio Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), an elderly street vendor who feeds the hungry and embraces the outcast. He lives with his nephew Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a gang member who has been disowned by his parents and therefore sparks an uproar when he drops by his sister Eileen&rsquo;s quincea&ntilde;era, a weddinglike ceremony to mark her 15th birthday. Eileen (Alicia Sixtos), however, gets the royal treatment from the folks: Rather than a spiritual commemoration, Eileen&rsquo;s day is one lavish party, with her friends cooing over her gorgeous dress, a stylized video remembrance, and a giant limo complete with stripper pole. The film, which easily flows between Spanish and English, opens with this celebration but then shifts to Eileen&rsquo;s 14-year-old cousin, Magdalena (Emily Rios), whom later that night is told by her excited mother (Araceli Guzman-Rico) that someone has offered to alter Eileen&rsquo;s dress for her own upcoming quincea&ntilde;era. Naturally, Magdalena wants her own dress. And, if not that, at least a limo. But her preacher/security-guard father (Jesus Castanos) doesn&rsquo;t have the money, and he&rsquo;s determined to keep the event traditional instead of flashy. Magdalena pouts until she finds out she has a bigger problem&mdash;she&rsquo;s pregnant, despite her insistence that she&rsquo;s never had sex with her boyfriend, Herman (J.R. Cruz). Her mother wants to support her, but her dad throws her out of the house, leaving her with nowhere to go but Uncle Tio&rsquo;s couch. He takes her in without question despite already sharing his home with Carlos, who we find out is gay. Quincea&ntilde;era concentrates not on the teenagers&rsquo; &ldquo;sins&rdquo; but rather the good that lies underneath them. While the elders cluck over Magdalena&rsquo;s pregnancy&mdash;Carlos&rsquo; sexuality is never really discussed&mdash;Tio, except for adding her picture to a backyard shrine where he&rsquo;s been praying for Carlos, all but ignores it. Gonzalez is the highlight of the film, imbuing an already remarkable character with a pleasant gentleness as Tio tells stories and putters around his rich-toned, lived-in home. He expresses his unconditional love in the simplest terms: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you have a friend,&rdquo; he tells Carlos, who has been involved in three-way trysts with Tio&rsquo;s new landlords that secretly morph into a relationship with one. His uncle doesn&rsquo;t know these details, however, even after things turn sour&mdash;and a proactive Magdalena finds out not only how her landlords respond to a young Latina but also what available property, all light and clean lines, is now worth in her neighborhood. Rios and Garcia, too, are understated and natural, though Garcia&rsquo;s Carlos hides his hurt under tough, silent, unsmiling posturing&mdash;Glatzer and Westmoreland are to be commended for completely avoiding the gay stereotype&mdash;he slowly becomes comfortable enough to reveal his strong sense of family and love of his new, untraditional clan. Rios&rsquo; Magdalena, meanwhile, is a combination of innocent little girl lost&mdash;her pregnancy has a medical explanation but is deemed a miracle&mdash;and spitfire teen as she at first fights those about to abandon her and then comes to accept that she&rsquo;s about to grow up, and fast. In a time when 15-year-olds are still kids, Magdalena&rsquo;s quincea&ntilde;era ends up being a true, joyous mark on her path to adulthood. Poster Boy tells the story of the semicloseted gay son of a conservative senator, but its audience will be put to the tolerance test more so than its characters. Zak Tucker&rsquo;s directorial debut, co-written by freshman Lecia Rosenthal and Ryan Shiraki (scribe of 2004&rsquo;s superior Home of Phobia), may have Quincea&ntilde;era&rsquo;s good intentions regarding unconditional love. But combined with its facile attempt at political indictment and across-the-board caricature, Poster Boy is less thought-provoking than just plain irritating. Its very structure is off-putting: Framed as an obnoxiously gruff reporter&rsquo;s interview with Henry (Matt Newton), his clash with his campaigning father, Sen. Jack Kray (Michael Lerner), is recounted in flashbacks. A college student who&rsquo;s open about his sexuality on campus but not at home, Henry is combative when Dad demands that he introduce him at a rally to demonstrate his strong family values. Henry tries to get out of it but is blackmailed by a fellow student who&rsquo;s assisting Kray. Meanwhile, other students are organizing a protest, and we&rsquo;re introduced in a roundabout way to Izzie (Valerie Geffner), a sullen, ratty-haired woman who is HIV-positive, and her gay roommate, Anthony (Jack Noseworthy). Poster Boy is so sloppy that it uses the same extra to walk by two main characters twice in a handful of seconds. In an attempt to be edgy&mdash;or something&mdash;Tucker uses a hand-held camera to nauseating effect, bobbing around even during the most mundane conversations. (As well as during the ridiculous ones: &ldquo;The fact is that for me, the flesh, the body, the whole materiality of being, is not something one controls!&rdquo; spews Izzie at a party.) The main story, clearly based on Dick Cheney&rsquo;s hypocrisy regarding his administration&rsquo;s policies and his lesbian daughter, Mary, is muddled by its confusing, undeveloped subplots. Maybe that&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s so over-the-top: Kray is too hateful to be believed, slapping Henry&mdash;whom he calls only &ldquo;son&rdquo;&mdash;as he insists upon his participation at the rally, &ldquo;even if it means cutting a smile across your face with a knife.&rdquo; (However, he&rsquo;s assigned a bizarre bit of dialogue for such a career-driven person when he tells Henry that he needs to &ldquo;get his priorities straight&rdquo; and find a girl.) Lerner, who also played Angry Dad in last year&rsquo;s equally terrible When Do We Eat?, certainly knows how to growl and threaten, yet he can&rsquo;t help but look ridiculous in the role. There are exactly two compelling moments in the movie. One involves a monologue by Henry&rsquo;s smarter-than-she-lets-on mother (Karen Allen), who takes her husband down a peg for mistreating their son. The other is Henry&rsquo;s rant to his interviewer that pretty much summarizes Poster Boy&rsquo;s message, in case you missed it: that politicians push &ldquo;issues&rdquo; such as homosexuality in voters&rsquo; faces to force them to take sides in the hope of gaining an edge, even if it&rsquo;s at the expense of their personal integrity. By this point, however, the film&rsquo;s integrity is long gone. http://www.spout.com/blogs/wonga/archive/2007/1/2/4939.aspx Post By: wonga
Post To: wonga's filmblog
Post Date: 1/2/2007 3:21:00 PM
Body: i saw 97 movies last year and it was hard to narrow them down but these are my favorites from 2006 for whatever reasons (i tried for 10 but just couldn't make it)! some are from 2005 and were seen later. i hope 2007 is half as good...TOP 15 LIST FOR 2006 MOVIES Sweet Land The Departed Paradise Now Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada Neil Young: Heart Of Gold The Heart Of The Game Little Miss Sunshine Shopgirl Quinceanara Transamerica Shut Up And Sing The Prestige The Illusionist The History Boys Charlotte’s WebHONORABLE MENTIONBabel Casino Royale Cave Of The Yellow Dog Deja Vu Half Nelson Hollywoodland Kinky Boots Running With Scissors Stranger Than Fiction The Devil Wears Prada The Namesake The Notorious Bettie Page The Queen Who Loves The Sun Wordplay
]]>Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:21:00 GMTwongawonga's filmblog1/2/2007 3:21:00 PMi saw 97 movies last year and it was hard to narrow them down but these are my favorites from 2006 for whatever reasons (i tried for 10 but just couldn&#39;t make it)! some are from 2005 and were seen later. i hope 2007 is half as good...TOP 15 LIST FOR 2006 MOVIES Sweet Land The Departed Paradise Now Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada Neil Young: Heart Of Gold The Heart Of The Game Little Miss Sunshine Shopgirl Quinceanara Transamerica Shut Up And Sing The Prestige The Illusionist The History Boys Charlotte&rsquo;s WebHONORABLE MENTIONBabel Casino Royale Cave Of The Yellow Dog Deja Vu Half Nelson Hollywoodland Kinky Boots Running With Scissors Stranger Than Fiction The Devil Wears Prada The Namesake The Notorious Bettie Page The Queen Who Loves The Sun Wordplay http://www.spout.com/blogs/i-heart-art/archive/2006/8/27/2728.aspx Post By: i-heart-art
Post To: i-heart-art Blog
Post Date: 8/27/2006 10:16:00 PM
Body: I have never blogged before and I have a firm policy about not giving away too much information about movie/TV/book storylines, so this may be dreadfully boring to read, but I saw this film today and all I can say is that it is very well done, extremely touching, and highly recommended for anyone who loves film.
]]>Mon, 28 Aug 2006 02:16:00 GMTi-heart-arti-heart-art Blog8/27/2006 10:16:00 PMI have never blogged before and I have a firm policy about not giving away too much information about movie/TV/book storylines, so this may be dreadfully boring to read, but I saw this film today and all I can say is that it is very well done, extremely touching, and highly recommended for anyone who loves film. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/teenagers/MemberTagFilms.aspxteenagers
Number of films tagged: 3025

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]]>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:13:43 GMT302597398Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/teen-pregnancy/MemberTagFilms.aspxteen-pregnancy
Number of films tagged: 2

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]]>Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:18:06 GMT233Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/teenpregnancy/MemberTagFilms.aspxteenpregnancy
Number of films tagged: 32

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]]>Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:49:52 GMT3233Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/latin-ethnicity/MemberTagFilms.aspxlatin-ethnicity
Number of films tagged: 49

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