The Perez Family

I love this movie. I remember I was seeing a play "Ragtime" and I wondered if an immigration movie/play existed that was not incredibly depressing and then I remembered "The Perez Family".

It's like that excercise where a shrink tells the husband to pretend he's interested in sex with his wife and then it the feelings actually occur. Here they pretend to be a family to get through immigration and then they actually do begin to care for one another and be like a true family.

I also loved how it could get a little surealistic at moments. For example when they first arrive in the Oragebowl and Juan fears they're gonna be shot and then they are suddenly surrounded by a laughing crowd. Or the moment Juan sees his wife kissing the cop and as he crushes the photo we see a red stain appear over his heart. That was so subtle I only caught it with repeated vewings. The soundtrach even is simpally amazing. And yes Marisa Tomei has never been hotter! ;-)

I also loved a lot of the minor roles such as the Indian immigration official who clearly realizes what's going on and clearly doesn't care. I loved that little sarcastic eyeroll he does when he talks about, "Cowboys . . . and Indians!"

Overall it's just such a sweet heartwarming film which is such a change from the usual "the more depressing the more deep and artistic" immigration film. Sure some of it was pretty silly, coincidental, and over the top but "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" wasn't?

Marisa Tomei is wonderful! There is a scene it which she is kneeling down in the water just as her boat arrives at Key West which is as sexy with cloth9ing as anything nude I've ever seen. ALfred Molina is great as the confused political prisoner.

The story begins as Alfred Molina sends his family off to America during a crackdown of the Cuban Communists. The former dictator Batista was very kind to capitalists. The country appeared to flourish but there was much poverty. Fidel Castro came to power and many of his political opponents were jailed or killed.

Marisa Tomei is a young worker in the sugar cane fields. News was difficult to come by there. When she gets to the U.S. she doesn't even know that John Wayne has died. (One of her great desires is to have sex with him)

Late in his administration President Carter declared an open door policy to anyone that was able to escape Cuba. As a result, Castro cleared his jails and hospitals of many criminals and insane people. It is in the midst of THIS that Marisa and Alfred meet. He as a released political prisoner trying to find the family he'd already sent to America years earlier, she as a poor worker trying to get to a better life. In the confusion of the long line at immigration and in order to get placed with a sponsor more quickly she claims him as her husband and an old man as her father in law.

For those of us who's families have been here long enough that we don't remember immigration this movie is a great reminder of why so many people have wanted to come here over the years.

You really can't go wrong with this...I bought it on recommendation of a friend and watch it a couple of times a year. It is among my personal top 10.

Mira Nair's take on comedy is quite impressive. The director is known for her more intense and dramatic films but here she proves that she can direct a comedy. Though 'The Perez Family' isn't without its share of flaws, it is overall a funny movie with loads of laugh-out-loud moments. The film is about a group of Cuban immigrants who move to the states, one of them is in search of freedom and another in search of his family whom he hasn't seen for 20 years. While the film is essentially a comedy, Nair does tackle some issues that represent the darkness of an immigrant's life.

The score is energetic and the cinematography is vivacious. The pace tends to drag in some places and near the end becomes a tad too intense. Perhaps Nair could have balanced it off by including more comic punches. The dialogues are wonderful, especially the ones between Tomei and Molina.

Marisa Tomei has never looked hotter. She is both sensual and hilarious and very convincing as a Cuban wild flower. She was also excellent in the more intense scenes. Angelica Huston too displays a sophisticated sensuality and shows that she too can be funny on screen. Alfred Molina is good but not as effective as his leading ladies. Chazz Palminteri is charming. The late Celia Cruz makes a pleasantly awkward appearance.

'The Perez Family' is quite a charming and funny romantic comedy that gives us a glimpse of the hardships of immigrant life but also lots to laugh about. Would like to see Nair make more comedy.

When President Carter declared an open door policy to anyone who wanted to escape Cuba and come to America, Castro used this to clear his jails of criminals and political prisoners. When Juan Raul Perez gets on the boat he hopes his wife will be there to meet him, as she fled to the US decades ago. When she doesn't come he ends up in the camp with everyone else, including the feisty Dorita Evita Perez. The two need a sponsor to get out of the camp and realise that things would be easier if they were a family. For that reason they pretend to be married and gradually start putting their fake family in place.

I was drawn to this film by the cast list and in fairness I should have spotted that this film about Cubans had very few Cuban or even Latino actors in it. Anyway, aside from that the plot has historical context but I am not familiar enough with it to say if it was accurate or not, although I really don't think it matters very much. The film tries to fizzle with Latin spirit while at the same time delivering a rather convoluted romantic drama of sorts. It partly works but the writing isn't great and the film failed to really engage me as it just seemed a little forced as if it had been a good idea once but had had so many knobs added to it that it got a little daffy. After an hour it settles into the formulaic mould it was in all along, the historical context forgotten and the clichés allowed to flow. If you can't see where this is going then I salute your ability to blindly accept what is given to you.

Talking of clichés, the casting of so few Hispanic/Cuban/Latino actors was a mystery to me. Surely it would have been possible to get closer than Italian, which is what quite a few of the main characters appear to be. Tomei was the name that drew me to this film but in turns her role is good and bad. She has an important role and it was necessary for her to be feisty etc but she overdoes it a little bit - hammy up her Latin cliché at the start for all she is worth; she gets better though. Molina is another strange choice but he does well in his role and carries some dignity through the film - it's not his fault that the script gets silly in trying to keep him and Huston apart. Huston is OK but her subplot seems added on to make the ending more palatable to the audience (god forbid anyone should be hurt). For this same reason, Palminteri is wasted. Cruz is good and Chowdhry is quite funny, but why Gallo even bothered is beyond me - pre-fame I suppose. SNL's Cleghorne plays a cop and, in the spirit of ethnic clichés, pushes the `oh-no-she-didn't' eye-rolling, `talk to the hand', neck moving black character for all she is worth - when she does it as a joke it is OK but here it just felt like laziness - especially for such a minor character.

Overall, any Hollywood film with Latinos/Cubans/Hispanics in it is going to force the rhythm for all it is worth and here is no different. It starts out boasting historical context and spice, falls into a rather convoluted series of plot twists that end up taking the film down a rom-com road to a solution that, although badly delivered, unthinkable and out-of-nowhere, was obvious from about 30 minutes into the film.

This excellent film came out at the same time as the similar titled "My Family." How interesting it always is when twin films come out that way. Sometimes one film is completely ignored, other times the two films split their limited audiences and neither really take off. Such as the case with these two films. Both were excellent films with similar marketing campaigns, but Marisa Tomei in "The Perez Family" is what makes this film the superior of the two. As Dottie Perez, Marisa Tomei is sizzling hot, as sexy as anything to dance across the screen in decades, and simply dissolves into her character. If Marisa Tomei won a Oscar for "My Cousin Vinny" (which she did), then her performance here, in comparison, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize! I dare any one, male or female, to watch this film and not fall instantly in love with every inch of her. Our entire family adores this film and Marisa Tomei's performance.