Yes, this movie is at least a 10!!! Finally a movie that treats it audience with respect - - it takes us through a wonderful and meaningful story with humor and drama but with none of the usual clichés or preachy or trite storytelling that we are served over and over again. I am not alone in my assessment of this wonderful film. I spent a Saturday morning at the Tribeca Film Festival with a sold out crowd who expressed the same feelings as mine with a lengthy and roaring applause of approval as the credits ran.
"Amexicano" makes its point on the issue of immigration and "the undocumented" without polarizing its audience with politics, race and class. This is a story about human beings, complex human beings - - legal and illegal. The authentic and endearing performances from Carmine Famiglietti, Raul Castillo, Jennifer Pena and all the supporting players are the cornerstone of this great independent film.
It's refreshing to see a filmmaker pack a film with honesty and integrity without fearing we can't handle it - - much like the movies Hollywood produced during the Golden Age of the 1970's. These days it seems to me that Hollywood feels that movies devoid of substance, truth, moral conflict and that lack humanity is what people want.
Stanley Kubrick once said: "Don't give the audience what they want, give them what they don't know they want yet". Matthew Bonifacio's "Amexicano" truly gives its audience "what they don't know they want yet".
