"Under the Same Moon" gives us a view of the lives of illegal Mexican immigrants through the eyes of a child. This device invites us to put aside adult stereotypes and preconceptions, and see the daily challenges, hardships, and kindnesses in the lives of the undocumented in a new light. There is the low-paying job, the impossibility of a driver's license, the lack of recourse if an employer cheats or mistreats, the constant worry of apprehension by the "Migra" (Immigration). And when a child embarks on an impossible journey to be with his mother in the U.S., there's an emotional appeal that is impossible to resist. Despite such transparent manipulation, the movie has enough scenes and characters that ring true, with such winning performances, that it achieves a modest success.
Ten year old Carlitos (Adrian Alonso, delightful and unselfconscious) has been living with his grandmother in Mexico while his undocumented mother Rosario (a luminous Kate del Castillo) works in Los Angeles cleaning houses and sewing. For four years, she has been trying to save enough money to pay an immigration lawyer to get Carlitos into the U.S. legally. Maybe this lawyer won't rip her off like the last one. Little Carlos, meanwhile, is growing more and more impatient for a reunion. Their daily routines are nicely intercut at the beginning of the movie, and at first it's not clear that they are not in the same house, in fact not in the same country.
Carlos spends some time each day helping a family friend Doña Carmen (Carmen Salinas) whose sideline business is immigrant smuggling. This is the first of several stereotype-busting characters in "Under the Same Moon." Rather than some rough gangster, Doña Carmen, "La Coyota" seems much more like a savvy, hard-headed businesswoman. She turns down an offer by a Latino brother and sister from the U.S. to transport a child or a baby because one, they can't even speak Spanish, and two, they're so green they could never pull it off. When his grandmother dies, Carlitos finds the two ("Ugly Betty" America Ferrera and "Quincerañera" prize-winner Jesse Garcia in cameos), and hires them to smuggle him across with some of the money he's saved from what his mother has sent back. Thus begins the road trip of Little Carlos, who has a week to get to Los Angeles before Sunday's call from his mother from a pay phone in Los Angeles to a pay phone in his town.
The trip has mishaps and missteps along the way, as Carlos brushes against a strung-out druggie, a flesh trafficker, an immigrant boarding house, day labor, and "Migra" (Immigration), and finally ends up under the reluctant protection of Enrique (a charming/irascible Eugenio Derbez). Meanwhile, as the film counts down the days until Sunday, Rosario is facing her own struggles with survival, and her determination to do it all alone is tested by the attentions of a handsome security guard who already has his green card (a suave Gabriel Porras). The two stories hurtle along toward Sunday, and Rosario makes a fateful decision. By Sunday, we have a remarkable portrait of life on both sides of the border, and a child has led us.
Rated PG-13. 106 minutes. Directed by Patricia Riggen. Written by Ligiah Villalobos. Produced by Patricia Riggen and Gerardo Barrera. Cinematography by Checco Varese. Music composed by Carlo Siliotto. Production Design by Gloria Carrasco and Carmen Giménez Cacho. Edited by Aleshka Ferrero. Distributed in the U.S. by Fox Searchlight Pictures. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Principal actors: Kate Del Castillo, Adrian Alonso, Eugenio Derbez, Jesse Garcia, America Ferrera, Maya Zapata, and Carmen Salinas.
Ten year old Carlitos (Adrian Alonso, delightful and unselfconscious) has been living with his grandmother in Mexico while his undocumented mother Rosario (a luminous Kate del Castillo) works in Los Angeles cleaning houses and sewing. For four years, she has been trying to save enough money to pay an immigration lawyer to get Carlitos into the U.S. legally. Maybe this lawyer won't rip her off like the last one. Little Carlos, meanwhile, is growing more and more impatient for a reunion. Their daily routines are nicely intercut at the beginning of the movie, and at first it's not clear that they are not in the same house, in fact not in the same country.
Carlos spends some time each day helping a family friend Doña Carmen (Carmen Salinas) whose sideline business is immigrant smuggling. This is the first of several stereotype-busting characters in "Under the Same Moon." Rather than some rough gangster, Doña Carmen, "La Coyota" seems much more like a savvy, hard-headed businesswoman. She turns down an offer by a Latino brother and sister from the U.S. to transport a child or a baby because one, they can't even speak Spanish, and two, they're so green they could never pull it off. When his grandmother dies, Carlitos finds the two ("Ugly Betty" America Ferrera and "Quincerañera" prize-winner Jesse Garcia in cameos), and hires them to smuggle him across with some of the money he's saved from what his mother has sent back. Thus begins the road trip of Little Carlos, who has a week to get to Los Angeles before Sunday's call from his mother from a pay phone in Los Angeles to a pay phone in his town.
The trip has mishaps and missteps along the way, as Carlos brushes against a strung-out druggie, a flesh trafficker, an immigrant boarding house, day labor, and "Migra" (Immigration), and finally ends up under the reluctant protection of Enrique (a charming/irascible Eugenio Derbez). Meanwhile, as the film counts down the days until Sunday, Rosario is facing her own struggles with survival, and her determination to do it all alone is tested by the attentions of a handsome security guard who already has his green card (a suave Gabriel Porras). The two stories hurtle along toward Sunday, and Rosario makes a fateful decision. By Sunday, we have a remarkable portrait of life on both sides of the border, and a child has led us.
Rated PG-13. 106 minutes. Directed by Patricia Riggen. Written by Ligiah Villalobos. Produced by Patricia Riggen and Gerardo Barrera. Cinematography by Checco Varese. Music composed by Carlo Siliotto. Production Design by Gloria Carrasco and Carmen Giménez Cacho. Edited by Aleshka Ferrero. Distributed in the U.S. by Fox Searchlight Pictures. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Principal actors: Kate Del Castillo, Adrian Alonso, Eugenio Derbez, Jesse Garcia, America Ferrera, Maya Zapata, and Carmen Salinas.
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