Arizona Reporter - Movie Reviews - 07/02
Under The Same Moon - Torn From Today's Headlines
Under The Same Moon (La Misma Luna)By Harvey Karten (AZR) - It's not difficult to see why an audience at Sundance gave this picture a standing ovation. Accustomed as we are to cynicism and vulgarity at the local theater, with the U.S. answer being typically a faux romantic story like the abysmal "Fool's Good," "Under the Same Moon" is being embraced by all who want to believe that persistence will yield real treasure. In this case, the treasure is not something buried under a mountain in South Dakota or a chest hidden by Spain centuries ago in the Caribbean, but a human one: the priceless gift of a mother's love for her son which is fully reciprocated by a nine-year-old boy who relentlessly casts all aside in the hope of locating her.
"La Misma Luna," as the film is known in its native Mexico where it has been directed by Patricia Riggen from Ligiah Villalobos's script, is torn from today's headlines, as our own country seeks to find a compromise solution to the issue of illegal immigration. While some Americans believe that undocumented aliens, particularly those who cross the border from Mexico, are a financial burden, Riggen and Villalobos illustrate the opposite side of the coin. Most of these people come from poor countries in the hope of finding a better life, and are willing to work hard and long, often at jobs reluctantly taken by Americans if at all.
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UNDER THE SAME MOON (La Misma Luna)
Fox Searchlight Pictures/ The Weinstein Company
Reviewed for Arizona Reporter by Harvey Karten
Grade: B+
Directed by: Patricia Riggen
Written By: Ligiah Villalobos
Cast: Adrian Alonso, Kate del Castillo, Eugenio Derbez, Maya Zapata, Carmen Salinas, Maria Rojo, Mario Almada, Jesse Garcia, America Ferrera, Los Tigres del Norte
Screened at: Fox, NYC, 2/6/08 Opens: March 19, 2008
In this case, one Rosario (Kate del Castillo) had left her son Carlitos (Adrian Alonso) under the care of the boy's grandmother while Rosario crossed over to L.A. to work as a maid and earn far more than she could in her native Mexico. She intends to send for Carlitos when she has saved enough, though four agonizing years have elapsed, her only communication with her boy being a call she makes from a pay phone near an L.A. Domino's Pizza store, each Sunday at 10 a.m. sharp. When Carlitos's grandmother (Angelina Pelaez) dies suddenly in her sleep, leaving the lad with no-one to care for him, most boys of his age would be wholly lost. Carlitos, seeing an opportunity to surprise his mother in L.A. though he has no idea of her address, gets himself smuggled across the border in a minivan and must find his way as best he can from El Paso, Texas to the unknown California address.
To Carlitos, of course, the journey is not more important than the designation, but director Riggen projects most of her film on the trip that the young man makes with the help of Mexican-American students (Jesse Garcia, America Ferrera) who stash him under the back seat of their minivan. The boy is helped as well by undocumented migrant worker, Enrique (Eugenio Derbez), who at first considers the kid to be excess baggage but then bonds with him, ultimately risking arrest and deportation to assist in the boy's search. While much of the film focuses on Carlitos, Riggen spends ample time exploring the life of his mom, who is treated badly by one rich, white California employer (Jacqueline Voltaire), who appears to resent the woman's youth. Rosario entertains an offer from a Mexican-American security guard, Paco (Gabriel Porras), of marriage and a green card.
Fans of cinema dealing with persons who enter the U.S. illegally only to be baffled by a culture that makes California look like Mars will be reminded of Gregory Nova's epic "El Norte," hands-down the best picture ever made on the subject, which deals with a brother and sister who leave their war-torn Guatemala to find a life on the Left Coast. The warmth of "Under the Same Moon" comes across thanks to a potent performance by fourteen-year-old Mexico City-born Adrian Alonso, best known to American movie buffs for his role as Joaquin in Martin Campbell's "The Legend of Zorro." Alonso, who easily passes for a kid five years younger, has a dramatic range exceeding that of most child actors as he plunges into the movie in the role of a real mensch: hair neatly combed, speaking easily to adults, confident of reaching his goal of reuniting with his mom. For her part Kate del Castillo, an actress who, like her character, came to the U.S. seeking a better life, projects the hardships that an undocumented worker must go through to survive, including the humiliation from an employer who dares her to call the police when she fires Rosario, refusing to pay her for half a week's work.
Photographer Checco Varese captures the unstable world that the two principals have entered, swinging his camera at several points to reflect the nine-year-old's spontaneity. A range of Mexican pop music fills the soundtrack, highlighted by a spontaneous concert of a group of mariachi singers that Carlitos meets during his journey.
Rated PG-13. 109 minutes. © 2008 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online
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