Quinceanera
Release Date:
August 4, 2006
Limited release
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 6/76 |
Dan Krovich |
Kitchen sink drama goes for a lot and makes contact on most. |
A few years ago, Todd Haynes made a return to the kitchen sink-style dramas of the '50s and '60s with his Douglas Sirk-esque Far from Heaven. Quinceanera re-imagines the kitchen sink style as it examines racial, sexual, and class evolution in a growing Latino neighborhood. The project comes from the minds behind the small indie film The Fluffer, and with a pickup by a mini-major in Sony Pictures Classics, allows director/writers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland to reach a wider audience.
The story centers on Magdalena, a teenage girl approaching her 15th birthday (hence the title of the film). She's the daughter of a Mexican-American family who runs her own storefront church in Los Angeles. The only things on her mind, though, are her boyfriend, what dress she will wear to her birthday party, and her hopes that she'll be able to ride in a Hummer Limo on her most special of days.
Things rapidly change for Magdalena when she becomes pregnant. Amidst continuing preparations for her party, our young heroine has to worry herself over what will happen when her super-religious father finds out. That question is answered is she is kicked out of her family home, and forced to seek refuge in the home of her great-great-uncle Tomas, an elderly gentleman who makes a living by selling champurrado as a street vendor. Also living in this makeshift home is Magdalena's cousin Carlos, who is not pleased to have his relative arrive on the scene.
Magdalena's life continues on its sea of change when the home her uncle has been renting is purchased by a wealthy, white, gay couple. Their goal is to revitalize the neighborhood, which inevitably leads to conflict - one that might threaten Magdalena's family's way of life. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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