I could hear the pitch: "It's Boyz 'N The Hood meets Blood In, Blood Out, with a sprinkle of Saturday Night Fever thrown in for good measure with a vision by Spike Lee if he was Mexican-American instead of an African-American." But despite my cynicism, of the three Hispanic-themed in-the-hood movies I have seen in the last two weeks, this is the most professional production with a nice 35mm print and director of photography who knew what he was doing behind the camera. This was not an amateurish, half-ass attempt as I have seen till now that plagues this genre. But what I do agree with the reviews here is that this is not really an original screenplay. Yes, we have seen this storyline in many other movies such as those that I have cited earlier, but for some reason, I liked it more than I thought I would. I felt ALL the actors did a good and believable job. The three main characters are likeable in their confused, on-the-cusp of adulthood identities, though some of the scenes were repetitive between them. What I felt lacking though were the depth of the female characters. They had a breezy presence which could have added to the story if used correctly. (General question here: In movies, why can't Hispanic males wanna go to college and better themselves? Why is it that only Latinas have this ambition?) I did notice something which I felt added to the overall story arch sublimally: everyone seen onscreen was a Mexican or Mexican-American. I hope film producers will make more of this homogenous society in East L.A. I imagine there are so many stories out there as long as they do not fall into the trap of ethnic stereotyping or cliches, even if the makers are Hispanic themselves.
