Echo Park LA - review
- Source: The List (Issue 559)
- Date: 18 September 2006 (updated 13 July 2007)
- Written by: Selina Robertson
Echo Park LA - review LA (Quinceanera)
(15) 90min
DRAMA
Tony Richardson/Shelagh Delaney’s 1961 drama A Taste of Honey is the direct inspiration for this beautifully composed teenage drama. Young Latina Magdalena (Emily Rios) is blissfully preparing for her Quinceañera (15th birthday celebration) dreaming of her white taffeta dress and Hummer limo, when she falls pregnant and is forced by her pious parents to live with her great-great uncle Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez). Tomas also houses Magdelena’s cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a young street kid struggling with his sexuality. Carlos is mostly interested in smoking weed and visiting his affluent gay landlords for nooky and chat. As Magdalana’s pregnancy grows more visible, the outsider family pulls together when faced with their increasingly difficult socio-economic circumstances and in turn gay gentrification gets a sharp cutting down. Shot with a fearless realism, part-documentary, part New Queer Cinema, Echo Park LA finds humour, passion and tense drama in hard-hitting storylines. Winners of the Grand Jury and Audience Award at Sundance 2006 (an accolade given only once before in the history of the festival), queer filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (The Fluffer) have delivered up a celebration and a feast.
Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow and Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 29 Sep.
More: Echo Park LA, Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland, Reviews (Film), Drama (Film), LGBT
Comments
No comments yet – be the first.
To post a comment or review you'll first need to log in.
- not registered? it'll only take a minute
- forgotten your password?





