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"Ill
'Luminarias'"
by Scott Mantz
"Luminarias"
Evelina Fernandez, Scott Bakula
Directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela
In her classic
novel "Pride and Prejudice," Jane Austen observed the fine line
that divides those two emotions. In some cases, pride can be so
overbearing that it actually does more harm than good. That's the
case with "Luminarias," director Jose Luis Valenzuela's movie about
love, tolerance, second chances, and other lifelong favorites. While
it does contain some decent performances and good intentions, it
comes across as far too contrived and predictable to be believed.
Andrea (Evelina
Fernandez), Sofia (Marta Du Bois), Irene (Dyana Ortelli), and Lilly
(Angela Moya) are best friends at various stages of their forty-something
lives. Irene is a clothing designer with a strong sex drive and
even stronger religious beliefs. Sofia is a successful therapist
who's in dire need of some therapy herself. Lilly's Korean boyfriend
is afraid to divulge the true nature of her Mexican background to
his parents. Finally, there's Andrea, an attorney who recently separated
from her philandering husband. When her friends try to fix her up
with a nice Jewish attorney (Scott Bakula), Andrea realizes that
she either has to cool off with her own racial hang-ups, or she'll
be trapped by them forever.
"Luminarias"
refers to the upscale Mexican restaurant where the main characters
drink themselves into oblivion and commiserate about their lives.
Think "Diner" meets "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" set against
the backdrop of LA's Latino community, and you get the idea of what's
going on here. While "Luminarias" may be full of good intentions,
it fails in its attempt to pull off any of the weighty issues that
it takes on. Overcoming racial bigotry is always deserving of exploration
on the big screen, but it deserves much better than this.
Talk about a
missed opportunity, "Luminarias" takes the easy way out on too many
moments that could have provided genuine tension. When Angie realizes
that she is falling in love with Joseph, the prosecuting attorney
in her divorce case, she simply passes her client over to someone
else, rather than have it interfere with their relationship. Andrea
launches into a tirade about how much rage she has pent up inside
of her because of her own racial experiences, but she's able to
drop it in a heartbeat when she gets involved with Joseph. Then
there's Irene, who cannot deal with her brother's homosexuality,
but by the end of the film, she's perfectly cool with it. Did I
miss something? I could go on, but why bother?
As if taking
the easy way out wasn't bad enough, the film is so contrived and
predictable that it just doesn't ring true. When Lilly's boyfriend
introduces her to his parents, they are so predictably upset to
find out about her true heritage that they become stereotypes themselves.
It's obvious that Andrea and Joseph will end up falling in love,
and it's just as obvious that Joseph will have that awkward first
meeting with her family.
The actors give
it their all in light of the contrived progression of events. Evelina
Fernandez is convincing as the spurned wife who's trying to balance
her new love with her old demons. It's too bad the story didn't
shake things up a little more and really let her go for it. Scott
Bakula is decent enough as the attorney who's not as naive as you
would think. Cheech Marin makes a brief appearance as the wise uncle
who puts in his two cents worth, and Dyana Ortelli is amusing as
the pent-up sexual dynamo who's counting down the days until she
can go wild again.
It's nice to
see a film break down racial stereotypes and portray Latinos as
something other than illegal aliens or drug dealers. Unfortunately,
the characters portrayed here have more hang-ups than a crank caller
on a binge. Everybody just needs to lighten up--including the filmmakers.
"Luminarias" makes a heartfelt attempt to point out the need to
accept people for who they are, but by missing the boat, it leaves
you standing on the pier with frustration.
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