Kind of a cross between a bat mitzvah and a sweet-sixteen party (only the girl is 15) party, quinceañera is the Mexican coming-of-age celebration that almost looks like a wedding. It’s a comparison that takes on poignancy in this film directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. Magdalena (Emily Rios) is preparing for her quinceañera until her parents discover she’s pregnant and kick her out of the house. She moves in with her great-uncle (Chalo González) and her gay cousin (Jesse Garcia), who’s also been kicked out of his house, and they form a kind of family. Good acting and the directors’ unobtrusive style undercut what could have been a sappy TV-movie, and a subplot about gentrification in Echo Park, Los Angeles (where the film is set and was mostly shot), is handled carefully until the climax, when it threatens to collapse under its own weight. That it doesn’t is a major feat.
On the Web
Quinceañera official Web site: //www.sonyclassics.com/quinceanera
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