Mi familia

'My Family' is a compelling tale spanning three generations about a family of Mexican origin living in Los Angeles. It starts with the father of the family, Jose Sanchez (terrifically played by Jacob Vargas), making a one year journey on foot from Mexico to Los Angeles. Once there, he meets and marries the love of his life, Maria (Jennifer Lopez, in an interesting performance). After, Maria survives a tragic separation, she and Jose settle in Los Angeles and raise a family of six.

There is a tremendous amount of expectation here, namely because Francis Ford Coppola, who crafted arguably the most exhilarating family saga in the Godfather pictures, is an executive producer. But, My Family is nowhere near in the same league as films like 'The Godfather'. Rather, 'My Family' turns out to be a great film that could have been better. One glaring flaw is in the script written by Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas is that too often, the script relies on tragedies to stir our emotions. Consequently, the emotion presented in the film feel fake at times. Particularly, in the scenes involving Jimmy attempting to bond with his only son, Carlitos.

Despite the missteps in the film, there are many positives to draw upon. The strong performances of the cast. Jimmy Smits, in particular, dominates the film with an intense and yet affecting performance. The film hardly ever succumbs to being a standard tear-jerker or phony. Instead, the film succeeds at creating a touching and provocative portrait of a family's struggles and tribulations in a world that hardly seems just.

This year for Cinco de Mayo I made pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, homemade soft tacos and a mango dessert...I couldn't think of a better film to share with my husband, who had never seen it, than Mi Familia. This is the film that won me over to Jimmy Smits, prior to seeing Mi Familia years ago I was not a big fan...and then I watched the clinic that he put on during this film and have been a fan ever since.

Mi Familia is loaded with star power...Edward James Olmos, Esai morales and Jimmy Smits...and that is just the men, young Maria is initially played by Jennifer Lopez and eventually by the phenomenal actress Jenny Gago. For me the most memorable storyline is between Jimmy (Jimmy Smits) and his wife Isabel (Elpidia Carillo)...they were both phenomenal, bonding over their shared stories of pain and loss.

This is an epic tale of three generations of one Mexican American family and it begins with the voyage (mainly on foot) of Jose from the heart of Mexico to his distant relative nicknamed El California, because when he was born his house was in Mexico...but now his home is officially in California. The story is narrated by Edward James Olmos, who plays the eldest son of Jose and wants to be a writer. Jose lives in East LA with El California and goes to work on the west side as a gardener where he meets Maria who is the nanny for a wealthy family. Maria and Jose don't have a lot but they are happy growing Beans in the front and corn in the back of their modest home which grows with their family as they have a son and then a daughter. During her third pregnancy Maria is picked up by INS and deported to the middle of Mexico, even though she was born and raised in America. Maria delivers their third child, a son named Chucho, in Mexico and then journeys on foot back to Jose and their home...a process that took two years! Jose and Maria end up with three more children after that Tina, Memo and the youngest Jimmy.

Without ruining the film their stories include gang violence, death, a restaurant, a lawyer, a nun, marriage, children, activism, jail and dancing!

I loved the storytelling aspects of this film and the Mexican folklore...but one of the best parts is the little window into history.

This is a wonderful story that has stood up to the test of time. I highly recommend watching it and I enjoyed it tremendously for our themed evening.

The following tender scene (in an otherwise male-oriented movie) is totally unexpected: Jimmy Smits is a macho and is busy with his car, his wife (Elpidia Carrillo) whom he only married so she wouldn't be deported, comes up to him and changes the music in the cassette-player. She tries to get him to dance with her, right there on the street. At first he doesn't want to, but the way by how she finally succeeds is really a must to see. He even asks her at the end of the dance "Will you teach me how to salsa?". For only this scene one should rent the video, the rest of the movie isn't bad either!

I really enjoyed this movie. If you know anything about Mexican culture, it should really make you laugh! Of course, it also has its moments of tragedy but somehow everything ends up being okay. I liked it! It's definitely a movie that makes you feel!

Esai Morales, Chucho, does an excellent job! I think it's some of the best acting I've ever seen him do.

I hope you see it!

Movie follows Jose and Maria who emigrate to California in the 1920s, fall in love and get married. It follows their lives and their childrens up to 1995.

An epic--the first American movie to show a multigenerational portrait of a Mexican family. It's not perfect--some parts are romanticized (I find it hard to believe that the house of a pretty poor family looks that good) and some of the situations are really melodramatic.

Still, the script is good and believable and (with one exception) all the acting is good--especially the very talented Esai Morales. His was a very cliched role (the hot headed Latino brother) but he gave it depth and feeling and acted the hell out of it. When his character goes away the movie lost something. Unfortunately he's replaced by Jimmy Smits who gives a real terrible performance--he's so emotionless all the time! His prescence really drags down the last section of the film, but all the other actors keep it going.

This definetely looks like the inspiration for the (unfortunately) cancelled Showtime series "Resurrection Blvd". It's just a little better than the series and some of the same actors appear in both (Morales played a hot-headed latino in the series too).

Engrossing and one of a kind. Also it's kind of fun to see Jennifer Lopez in a small role before she hit it big. A definete must-see...it doesn't matter if you're Latino or not.