Mi vida loca

i loved this movie. It shows the life and struggles of young Hispanics growing up in the hood. With this even if it is not acted out to the best of other actors abilities, these actors are real. They may not know how to act very well, but they are true to the character. It shows that no matter how you begin your life you always have a choice and depending on the choice you make it can change your life forever. From gangs to drugs and even guns this movie takes you in the life of some harsh realities. With the good the bad and the babies they do the best they can with what they have. Survival is everything. Similar movies to see are Blood In Blod Out Bond By Honor, American Me, and raising Victor Vargas. These movies also focus on the ups and downs of gangster life.

"Mi Vida Loca" is a documentary-like approach to examining the lives of Hispanic girls in Echo Park. The film is never over-dramatized. The dialogue is authentic, and never stylized, and so are the performances. The story never takes the predictable Hollywood route. However, it still could've used more structure. At first I thought the film's focus was on the character of Sad Girl. About 15-20 minutes through, the focus changes to another character and the same pattern occurs throughout the film. So I didn't feel as connected to the film as I expected. If the characters and situations were unrealistic, I would be totally disengaged, but that wasn't the case and as a result, I was still entertained and moved. Almost all the scenes take place in apartments, sidewalks and parks, so it's obvious that the film was made on a low-budget, but that small budget was put to good use and I give Allison Anders much credit.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

It is so much like the world I grew up in during my high school years that there isn't a character in the movie I can't identify with. Everytime I watch it, it's like I'm watching a home video of me and my old friends....

I'm a big fan of cheap movies, and again I'm shown an excellent example here of intelligent shoe-string filmmaking.

The story revolves around the hispanic girl gang of Echo Park, while there is no story as such, the floating viewpoint takes in the mindsets of all the characters and gives a kind of overview of what it's like to live your life to the strict rules of gang culture.

Some of the women look very hard indeed, and I found out later a few are actual gang members. Very impressive. Watch out for cameos by a young Spike Jonze and Jason Lee. That's a footnote though, the film is enjoyable, the medium pace never stretches your patience and the performances are very good.

Themes of retribution, faith, friendship and loyalty are the main talking points, but I'd recommend this film to anyone with a slight interest in gang culture and in this case, female gangs.

This movie feels more like a documentary than anything else. You sense the realism in the script, locations and the actors. It helps that you will not recognize anyone here from anywhere else, there is no "baggage" at all with the actors. The movie follows the lives of several women who live on the periphery of a hispanic gang. They live lifes of tragedy and sadness, loathing themselves and the town they are from. They push their children in strollers, watch out for drive-by shootings and wait for the latest news on which of their boyfriends were killed, injured or jailed. The movie also portrays quite well, in the face of their tragedy, the girls have a strong bond within themselves and even though they may have fights over men, they ultimately will stand up for each other. They should, it seems no one else will. Great movie. Recommended as an escape movie. It will take you out of your world to a world you would probably never want to visit. Like life, it is not romanticized and it is not shown in an overly bad light. It just is.