Ana

Lots of greenery, beautiful houses n the fascinating blowhole. The film is about a salesman n a young kid n how the kid helps the man n teaches him to hustle. The film is listed as a comedy but there is no humor. The end scene of the blowhole is a bit far fetched.

My wife and I enjoyed this smaller movie, we watched it at home on DVD from our public library. Garcia is in fine form as the used car salesman and young Keen is just perfect as the 11-yr-old whose mom can stay out of jail.

Jeanne Tripplehorn comes in more towards the latter stages, as Pastor Helen who is glad to use the young girl's "healing" to run a money-raising scam to illegally finance the election of a local politician.

The movie is a fun watch, they get into some interesting situations. This is much different from the bigger blockbuster movies and that is a welcome change of pace.

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.

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.

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.