Luminarias

"Luminarias" tells of four middle-aged, middle class Latina best friends, Mexican-American women, who meet at the title restaurant in L.A. periodically for conversation. Andrea (Frenandez), a lawyer, is the centerpiece of this slice-of-latin-life flick and also the playwright. A mediocre film as films go, "Luminarias" deals with issues of family, ethnicity, romance, and more as it wanders around the genres from sitcom-like comedy to more serious drama, uncertain of its purpose but unabashedly delivering heartfelt entertainment regardless. Should appeal most to Mex-Am females. C

Note - If we can trust the IMDB.com stats, this is a real love it or hate it flick with over 1/4 scoring it a 1 and over 1/4 giving it a 10 and everyone else scattered in between.

I found Luminarias to be an amazing movie for teaching about interracial relationships, stereotyping, white privilege, and the impact of (post)colonization. The film allows for discussion of how everyone stereotypes. The stereotyping in this film is not just engaged in by the Latina actresses. I must admit, it can perpetuate stereotypes of Latinas/os, but not if it is taken as intended by the script writers. People who think this film does nothing but perpetuate stereotypes and reflect the stereotyping of Latinas is missing the larger picture. The issues of race, class, gender, discrimination, stereotyping, etc., are all brought to the forefront in a comical way. As a professor, I view this film as an opportunity to build bridges by pointing out the fact that EVERYONE stereotypes. This film is not about Latinas stuck in the days of the Chicano Movement. These are women who were products of the Chicano Movement and who do represent the thoughts and feelings of MANY U.S. born Latinas who identify as Chicanas, in particular those who have had very little exposure to people not of their own ethnic/racial heritages. This is much the same for members of other cultures who do not leave their comfortable zones. Unfortunately, many individuals who are more assimilated and/or who have grown up among members of the dominant U.S. culture (read Whites) tend to view the women as unrealistic and are often offended by the portrals. Of course they would appear this way to people who do not have the same frame of reference (worldviews) as the women depicted. Remember, the women were born and raised in East LA, not in New York, Wisconsin, Florida, Chicago, or the South. Latinos are all over the U.S. and are very diverse. The stories these women tell cannot be generalized to all Latinos or Chicanas for that matter. However, the depictions are relatively real for many Chicanas, born and raised in predominately Chicano communities. What I like the most about the film is the fact that in the end, the women learn about themselves and realize people are people no matter what their cultural/ethnic/racial heritages.

In US there is a large variety of Mexicans, particularly in California. There you find Mexican legal and illegal emigrants, and US citizens of Mexican origin called Chicanos by the Americans or Pochos by the same Mexicans. Chicanos normally speak well Spanish, at least 80% of them, and behave as Mexicans in their way of lives. This film shows the behavior of four Chicano ladies, their dreams, their wishes, always trying to live well as Americans but also dreaming to have a hot lover or husband able to dance and to enjoy as they do. I found this film interesting because many of Latinos are like these ladies and they want to live well but eating tacos and tortillas, drinking tequila and having hot sex with their lovers or husbands, no matter if they are not US citizens. May be the film could have done better technically, but its message was clear to me, but may not be the same for non Latino population.

Though some of the acting was a little stiff, the situations and dialogue were genuine and a pleasure to experience. Not only are the situations relatable, the characters are people that you know. Scott Bakula, always fantastic, is a treasure in this picture. The music is varied and wonderful. I rarely purchase movies for my permanent collection, but this is one I will be adding. The story holds up. The writing is outstanding. DVD extras round out the fun. As for a previous comment regarding how the characters speak depending upon who they are with - who doesn't do that? When we speak with our elders and our employers, a certain level of respect and sentence structure is required. When we talk with our friends, casually in a group over a beer, the language needn't be so structured.

It was funny and I enjoyed it. I have sat at tables with a group of Latinas and heard similar comments. This movie was about a group of friends whose commonality was their ethnicity. The ladies were letting loose and having fun. And as an audience participant, I was having fun watching them.

I had to disagree with the other reviewer. Just because a woman is a "professional" doesn't mean that she has to use the lingo of her trade all the time. And have heard "professionals" who, away from the job, revert back to their comfort speech. That is what these ladies were doing.