Ana

Pay no attention to the detractors of this visual dose of morality in a world that destroys not elevates good humans. This gem of a film will share its world and humanity like no other I've seen in a long time. Andy Garcia portrays a disillusioned car dealer and Ana comes into his life like an escaped angel from heaven's realms...but she's no angel...at least not the two dimensional type. In fact all the characters are complex creatures formed by an unforgiving environment. Here's what you'll enjoy: the real Puerto Rico and its warm tough down and out inhabitants surviving corruption drugs and hurricanes...along with the fakes who have given up on humanity; amazing performances led by by Garcia and Keen; an exploration of the psyche of a child scared of adults but eternally willing to live and help. See this pearl of a film. It's a movie to talk about afterward.

Just like another user reviewed, it's a joy to see Andy Garcia and Dafne Keen acting, so, yeah, ignore the low score and watch it if you want to have a laugh. Some reviewers got a problem with humor here, but I am grateful another review made me watch this movie and I liked it a lot.

It is a predictable, mostly dull, small road trip movie with the occasional warm fuzzy in which you pretty much know where it's going to end up. But, with its Puerto Rico scenography, little bits of social & political commentary (against the church) and two relatively solid main characters with nice chemistry (Andy Garcia & Dafne Keen) movie is watchable. Garcia as character for me is pretty undeveloped, while the script needs some more ... punch. The second half speeds up a little bit, but introduces a weird subplot, trades realism for quirky (pit scene) and feels less meaningful. That is why at the end of film there was no real emotional resonance. Basically, movie started with the promise of more, but ended with an identity crisis while the execution made it like weekend TV afternoon movie vibe all over it.

Rating: 5+/6-

"Ok this is not a really good movie but still worthy to watch, some camera work are weird, some scene are kind a weird too, for the acting kinda in the middle sometimes good sometimes bad, now the story is very very out of concept , the ending for me is like outta nowhere, they just use the alternative story that very unexpected, like in the beginning the movie tell that they have to work hard to get this money but in the end they just put a simple ending, kinda disappointed but still fun to watch"

Rafa Rodriguez (Andy Garcia) runs a struggling used car lot in post-storm Puerto Rico. He finds Ana (Dafne Keen) had broken into one of his cars. With her mother in prison, Ana is alone. His cars get repo and he makes a bad bet. He needs to pay in 5 days. As he grows frustrated, he tries to leave Ana with Pastor Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn).

I love the two leads and I love the locations. I'm eager to go on a road trip with them. I'm going with this movie until the car gets stolen. It would have been fun for them to steal it back. That's the best move. Then there is the church. I like her wheeling down the aisle. That's a fun scene but the repeated showings don't make sense. Wouldn't some parishioners keep coming back? And wouldn't those repeat customers notice that it's the same girl every time? There is always a performative aspect to the proceedings but one would expect that such trickery would be called out eventually. The money part is too muddled morally and the movie wraps it all up too neatly with a bow in the closing text. It's unsatisfying. I still like the chemistry between Garcia and the girl. I like the church much less.