The Blue Diner

I just had the privilege of seeing "The Blue Diner" in a Rhode Island film festival last night and was treated to one of the warmest surprises of the year. It sported terrific performances from fresh faces, about characters you really cared for. An engaging script was complemented by very colorful cinematography, soothing music, a collection of reflective "insert" scenes and a number of subtleties that really worked well together. Although "The Blue Diner" was billed as a Latino film, it was much more than that. It was a family movie, a community film and a relationship movie all in one. While very different in style and content, it was reminiscent of the surprise movie of 1963: "Lilies of The Field". Standing ovations were clearly in order with kudos to Lisa Vidal, Miriam Colon, Joes Yenque (of the just released "Traffic"), and of course William Marquez (who played the Padre in "the Mask Of Zorro"). In addition, I had the opportunity to meet Natatcha Estabenez and Jan Egleson (both of whom wrote, directed and produced this work) in a Q&A following last night's showing. Both explained how difficult it is to get an independent movie to the viewing public these days. That said, this is a quality effort, and these are people you really want to root for. Hope this one makes it to national distribution....if it does, DON'T MISS IT!!! If it doesn't.... what a shame!!!

A terrific, funny, and poignant film lead by wonderful performances from William Marquez and Miriam Colon. Great cinematography, music, and script. I hope that this movie makes it to commercial distribution. The film makers paid great attention in portraying the characters, they seem struggle to speak and live, unlike many characters in many Hollywood films. Finally, a film with no stereotypes, just about people confronting extraordinary events in every day life. Not just a "Latino film" but an American film with so much power.

I have just seen "La Fonda Azul" (The Blue Diner) on PBS. Since I live in Massachussetts, and this film was shot in Boston, I had heard about it obliquely in the "Arts" section of the newspaper.

I am glad I took the time to see it. What struck me about it is that it presents the life of Hispanic immigrants in a way I have not seen before, it is not cliched in either direction (one being the R rated action movie treatment of Latinos, the other being the syrupy blandness of sitcom "Latino" families.)

It has characters that, in my eyes, reflect real struggles of cultural identity, and of living in the present without forgetting the past.

What I also found interesting about it is that other "fish out of water" can identify with the characters, not just Hispanics. (Just ask anybody originally from the deep South now living in New England, for example...)