Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 189

10 0) 0) i HOME IS WHERE IT ALL IS OMNI YFA IL I FA LIAIOMMt II I I 11101111111 MY FAMILYaMI FAMILIAIIIIIIIt it -4 0' dilg'1" co A 'f to7 HOME IS WHERE 4 IT ALL IS 44 a la i A 0044 0 00e' 4 es Ira -4 6 410 -4-''r i 41 00 something of the caliber of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's stories or something like Steinbeck might have written" Nava 46 said during a visit to Dallas "We needed an epic sweep to the story like The Grapes of Wrath but we also felt we had to cover a significant period of time to show how the Mexican migrations into the United States led to monumental changes within the Mexican family "And as we were conducting our research interviews talking to more than 100 families with deep roots in the East LA barrio it dawned on us that the continuity of our movie would be the home itself a place that seems to have been there forever a place that will remain standing even after many of our characters are dead and gone" A point of Nava's film is to show that the "promised land" of America may have offered an escape something of the caliber ofGabriel Garcia Marquez's stories or some- thing like Steinbeck might have written" Nava 46 said during a visit to Dallas "We needed an epic sweep to the story like The Grapes of Wrath but we also felt we had to cover a significant period of time to show how the Mexican mi- grations into the United States led to monumental changes within the Mexican family "And as we were conducting our se research interviews talking to more than 100 families with deep "The home though poor is still beautiful" explains filmmaker Gregory Nava of the setting that ci 1- defines his new movie My Family Mi Familia "It's where people get their strength and is the spiritual center of the family" Nava a San Diego native of Chicano stock knows the immeasurable value of a place to call home The search for belonging has coursed through his small but formidable body of work including the perilous-journey adventure El None (1984) and the betrayal drama A TimeolDestiny (1988) It is the quest for belonging that drives Mi Familia through two hours' screening time and three generations in the life of a fictional family "We were trying to come up with "The home though poor is still I- beautiful" explains filmmaker ce Gregory Nava of the setting that 1- 0 defines his new movie My Family Mi Familia "It's where people get their strength and is the spin tual center of the family" Nava a San Diego native of Chi- onac stock knows the immeasur- able value of a place to call home The search for belonein has When blood is thicker Along-ago search for kinship launches this new film called My Family Mi Familia and two fleeting hours and three anguished generations later the surviving characters are still struggling to sustain and extend those blood ties Never mind that each new generation cares little about where it came from and less about where it is going It's enough to make you want to shout at the screen "Give it a rest already!" But no one up there seems willing to acknowledge that their obsession with bringing forth children the "hope of the future" according to conventional wisdom is the very thing that brings on most of their miseries Mi Familia to use the more authentic Spanish title is a gripping film of epic scope and resonant truth It covers the Depression years' immigration wranglings between Mexico and the United States the East LA Pachuco scene that anticipated the present day's gang wars and the cultural betrayals that come from the enforcement of social boundaries Director Gregory Nava and producer Anna Thomas wrote the screenplay on the basis of a hundred-odd interviews with immigrant families from Mexico The fictional family thus distilled emerges as a rich representation of Hispanic domestic life in America's southern border regions The casting of established stars is a savvy ploy that broadens the popular appeal while allowing the likes of Jimmy Smits Elpidia Carrillo and Esai Morales to stretch Out in roles more accommodating than those offered by the typical Hollywood film Smits' elemental portrayal of a violently disappointed man in defiance of his sensitive-guy image is worth the price of admission The point of the movie is that nobody seems willing to accept that the Sanchez family like the American pop culture that surrounds it is growing less honorable with each generation Jose and Maria Sanchez (Jacob Vargas and Jennifer Lopez) start out in the I 920s with fine intentions But by the '50s their traditional family unit has been infected with the criminal inclinations of one son (Morales) whose downfall will cause another son to grow into a bitter troublemaker (Smits) That son finds the promise of redemption in a new wife (Carrillo in a standout performance) but more offspring and more troubles lurk just around the corner Of course this robust and expressive film cannot actually end but instead must trail off as Jimmy Smits' character heads out on the same kind of quest that had started the film It's called the search for roots and in its depiction of this primal urge Mi Familia cannot help but touch the heart and soul of anyone who sees it Michael Price When blood is thicker long-ago search for kinship launches this new film called My Family Mi Familia and two fleeting hours and three anguished generations later the surviving charac- ters are still struggling to sustain and extend those blood ties Never mind that each new generation cares little about where it came from and less about where it is going It's enough to make you want to shout at the screen "Give it a rest already!" But no one up there seems willing to acknowledge that their obsession with bringing forth children the' hope of the future according to conventional wisdom is the very thing that brings on most of their miseries Mx Familia to use the more authentic Spanish title is a gripping film of epic scope and resonant truth It covers the Depression years immigration igration wranglings between Mexico and the United States the East LA Pachuco scene that anticipated the present day's gang wars 11-' HI 7 New Lone unerna Jimmy Smits is one of the stars of My Family from the grueling rustic life of Mexico in the 1920s but ultimately delivered instead the curse of cultural dilution and betrayal the taint of turf-driven gang wars and the mixed blessing of lower-middle-class security so long as one keeps to one's own place "We got our stars right off the bat" he said "with no greater effort than telling them we were making a film about the Mexican experience in the United States Jimmy Smits Esai Morales Eddie Olmos Elpidia Carrillo the whole lot of 'cm leapt at the chance to make a film that would let them play it Latino-style amthentically defying Hollywood stereotypes in a big-looking slick Hollywood production "Take Jimmy Smits for example he's got this refined intellectual image that he seldom gets to vary in his mainstream films So we gave him a tough guy a loco to play He's an actor and an actor can do anything" Michael Price 1 Michael Price "TwoThumbsUp!" SISKEU EBERT "FUNNY BONES' is a winningly eccentric flight of wFul 1 ol I ft 0 I '1 i 1 1 I i i I i A i i i 1 1 1 1 1 i 4 I 11 1(1 I i 'i I 4 1 1 1 1- i 1 1 I 4 i ANN Mask NEW YORK TIMES "It's brilliant and it If Craig SIM SECOND PREVIEW My Family Mi Familia directed by Gregory Nava featuring Jimmy Smits Edward James Olmos Esai Morales Jenny Gago Elpidia Carrillo Rated (violence death harsh language sexual activity nudity) on a scale of 5 "A deliciously unpredictable comedy" -Jack NEW YORK NEWSDAY I "A impredi( comedy' Jadi dm NEW YORK NEWS FRIDAY'S TIMest 1 lorZ FRIDAY IMest "Quirky WI A capqvating N'N comic gem: atm AMERICAN MOVIE aAssia M4ERICAN aAssia capilvatini comic 11 o-1 )I Ain sa ma alk 1 I I OCINEMARKITHEATRES I COWTOWN CLASSIC May 6-7 For more info call metro (817) 429-8888 7 EATHES I JOill Up Tuday Start Larning our Moviewatcher Points! 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