A kitschy if sincere Chicano family saga by Gregory Nava (El Norte), nicely shot by Ed Lachman, covering three generations in Los Angeles. Francis Ford Coppola is one of the executive producers, and the colorful sweep and the likable schmaltz both bear his stampthough an uncredited appropriation of Satyajit Ray’s The World of Apu in one of the major plot strands is also apparent. With Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales, Eduardo Lopez Rojas, Jenny Gago, Elpidia Carrillo, Constance Marie, and Edward James Olmos, who serves as narrator; producer Anna Thomas collaborated with Nava on the script. (JR)