Luminarias

It was funny and I enjoyed it. I have sat at tables with a group of Latinas and heard similar comments. This movie was about a group of friends whose commonality was their ethnicity. The ladies were letting loose and having fun. And as an audience participant, I was having fun watching them.

I had to disagree with the other reviewer. Just because a woman is a "professional" doesn't mean that she has to use the lingo of her trade all the time. And have heard "professionals" who, away from the job, revert back to their comfort speech. That is what these ladies were doing.

"Luminarias" tells of four middle-aged, middle class Latina best friends, Mexican-American women, who meet at the title restaurant in L.A. periodically for conversation. Andrea (Frenandez), a lawyer, is the centerpiece of this slice-of-latin-life flick and also the playwright. A mediocre film as films go, "Luminarias" deals with issues of family, ethnicity, romance, and more as it wanders around the genres from sitcom-like comedy to more serious drama, uncertain of its purpose but unabashedly delivering heartfelt entertainment regardless. Should appeal most to Mex-Am females. C

Note - If we can trust the IMDB.com stats, this is a real love it or hate it flick with over 1/4 scoring it a 1 and over 1/4 giving it a 10 and everyone else scattered in between.

This movie is a heart-warming story about four latina women who value friendship and love. It's a well written story that tells it like it is in dealing with everyday struggles of life. Which makes it so realistic because it touches on relationships,self-identities and self-esteem. The story is so real involving interracial relationships, dealing with discrimination and trying to find themselves all in one. It's a must see movie for all people who like drama,love and laughter. Guaranteed for all women to enjoy as well as men.

Whew! I was looking forward to seeing this film for its (I thought) wonderfully diverse content; there are far too few films with such subject matter and cast, but YIKES!

SO poorly written, SO poorly acted!! It made me so disappointed that the writer tried to fit every stereotype she could into her dialogue, scenes that were forced to fit in all the cliches, forced to fit in contrived "confrontations" and GOD-AWFUL ACTING!!! I don't know what happened to some of these actresses, I've seen many of them in other roles, and they've been very good, but it seems as though they all sank to the level of the film.

It's too bad that this will be held up as an example of Latina filmmaking, it will probably make other producers shy away from tackling content like this in the future.

Though some of the acting was a little stiff, the situations and dialogue were genuine and a pleasure to experience. Not only are the situations relatable, the characters are people that you know. Scott Bakula, always fantastic, is a treasure in this picture. The music is varied and wonderful. I rarely purchase movies for my permanent collection, but this is one I will be adding. The story holds up. The writing is outstanding. DVD extras round out the fun. As for a previous comment regarding how the characters speak depending upon who they are with - who doesn't do that? When we speak with our elders and our employers, a certain level of respect and sentence structure is required. When we talk with our friends, casually in a group over a beer, the language needn't be so structured.