Quinceanera

A 15-year-old girl (Emily Rios) in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles gets pregnant and, despite her conviction that she’s technically a virgin, is kicked out of the house by her religious father. Taken in by her kindly great-great uncle (Chalo Gonzalez), a street peddler, she becomes part of another family with him and her cousin (Jesse Garcia), who was thrown out by his parents for being gay. Despite some awkwardness, this feature by writer-directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland is a fascinating look at the area’s Mexican-American milieu and other local subcultures, full of feeling, insight, and touching performances. In English and subtitled Spanish. R, 90 min. (JR)

This entry was posted in Featured Texts. Bookmark the permalink.