QUINCEANERA/ ECHO PARK LA.
US, 2006, 90 minutes, Colour.
Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia, J. R. Cruz, David W. Ross, Jason L. Wood.
Directed by Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland.
On the whole, this is a very cheerful film, though not without its sad moments and its wry comments on life.
Quinceanera is a Hispanic custom, celebrated with pomp and relish in Los Angeles, especially in the Echo Park neighbourhood. It is a rite of passage, a coming of age when a girl turns fifteen. The community celebrates it. It is an important and status reinforcing event for the family and the girl. The film opens with a celebration: the formal dresses, the religious rituals, the formal dances, the meal – and then letting hair down with a more modern take on the music and dancing.
It is interesting to see that the families in the film come from the Catholic tradition, with plenty of images and icons, but they belong to an evangelical iglesia, the type of church which proliferates in American cities.
The centre of the film is Magdalena (a vivacious Emily Rios) who is about to have her Quinceanera but her family do not have quite enough money for the expected big splash. Her father is the preacher at the iglesia, a bible reading pastor who soon has to learn that what God wants is mercy not sacrifice. Magdalena is pregnant but claims it is physically impossible. The putative father is also amazed. Magdalena becomes the focus of gossip and disdain, especially from her school friends.
She moves out of home to her great uncle Tomas, a kindly and genial man who has also taken in another outcast, another great nephew, Carlos (Jesse Garcia) who is gay. Carlos and Magdalena relate well and bond because of their outcast status in the tightly-knit community.
The film is often funny, sometimes full of pathos, and always humane rather than judgmental.
1. An enjoyable film? For American audiences? Hispanic audiences? Worldwide?
2. The title, its meaning, the celebration, turning 15? Its place in Hispanic traditions?
3. The Los Angeles settings, Echo Park, the homes, the parks? The extensive celebrations? The musical score and spirit?
4. The work of the directors, their home in Echo Park, the gay theme?
5. The focus on Magdalena, her age, her relationship with Eileen, with the family, with Carlos? Eileen, her celebration? Magdalena’s participation? Family values, moral stances? Carlos and his homosexuality? His being ousted? The preparations for the feast, Eileen and her pregnancy, her relationship with Hermano? Non-sexual conception, later proven by the doctors? Her father’s stances, his rigidity about virginity? Sending her away? His later relaxation with the truth?
6. Uncle Thomas, Carlos and Magdalena going to stay with him, Hermano being sent away?
7. Carlos and his story, gay, the two men, the affair? His finding money for Magdalena, offering to be the surrogate father? James and his ousting Carlos after the relationship with Gary?
8. Having to find new accommodation, the costs, Thomas and dying?
9. Magdalena, her mother, going to the doctor, her still being a virgin?
10. The spirit of the film and the celebration, all the trappings, participation, singing and dancing, food? The transition for Magdalena and her
future life?
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