Cheap Luminarias (DVD) (José Luis Valenzuela) Price

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Customer Reviews of Luminarias

Funny; Great Characters; Light; Entertaining; Truthful
I saw this movie last night by chance (there was nothing else on TV) and I am very glad I did. Even though I am not Mexican American I am a hispanic woman and this movie showed a side of us that many people don't see. First of all these women were not your stereotypical latinas we see on screen such as gang bangers, prostitutes, poor and uneducated, instead the're just the opposite but with the hangups that plague most minority women. I know because as a latina growing up in the South during the 60's I always felt the same way. I attended private Catholic schools and it was hell, the white girls felt I was too brown so friendship was out and the black kids I came in contact with also gave me the cold shoulder so for a long time I felt displaced. As a result I did everything I needed to do to have a great education and make money. But the price was high. It is only now that I'm trying to get back to my roots.
This movie also shows a lot of the problems women in general have to deal with specially those of us who are independent and of strong will. And as for those who thought the male characters were flat and two dimensional, they need to realize that the movie was about the women. By the way, I thought portrayal of "cholo" the professor was a great depiction of how many of us judge people by the way they look instead of who they really are.

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To the contrary...almost alright
This is an idealized but rather narrow characterization of Latinas. The film's weakness, contrary to the other reviews, is the writing. The male characters are pat and two-dimensional. Even the "cholo" professor (Cheech Marin) gets re-played as the proverbial "if only it were so" Chicano sight gag. The female characters, like the over/under-sexed Virgen-de-Guadalupe-devotee Irene (Angela Moya) whose persona manages to trivialize Catholic Lenten spirituality, seem shallow and undeveloped.
Only Sofia (Marta Du Bois) and Andrea (Evelina Fernandez, incidentally also this film's writer) develop any depth. Ironically, most believable of all is Andrea's abused divorce client (played by Seidy Lopez) who is type-cast in a role all too closely mirroring her brilliant chola portrayal in Mi Vida Loca.
Warning!: the film tackles racial-political issues from shaky ground...the 'rage' of the oppressed minority class that Andrea harbors rings ingenuous. 'White oppression!' she proclaims, from the balcony of her lawyer mansion, or from behind her executive desk safe within the high-rise realm of white power structures. As a Latino/a one can sympathize with anti-white/male bent, but it is at times shrill and probably out of sync with the experience of upwardly mobile Latinas at large.
This film is praise-worthy for the effort to take on so many issues at once, and is visually striking in moments, due to the art direction of noted Chicana artist Patsi Valdez. It also takes an interesting and all too short side-track into Banda sub-culture. It is worth watching though, because the genre is so rare and endangered. It conveys the sedate warmth of Latino family life and friendships convincingly, and does seem to typify the inter-racial scope of contemporary Chicano life in L.A.

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Luminarias
This movie has so much to offer. I have seen this many times and i enjoy it each and every time. This movie really shows how Latinas in the real aspects of reality. This has a powerful message saying that women of color (latinas) are worth gold and that no matter what we can make it. The friendships in this movie is great, dysfunctional but great. It really shows how interracial relationships effect others and how good it is at the end. To not try something new and different doesnt' always mean that it's a bad thing! Que sige la movida de peliculas como esta!