"Real Women Have Curves" is an outstanding film about people who look and behave like real women and men.
Director Patricia Cardoso is one of the few directors who must have actually looked around at people on the street, and realized that very few of them --if any--resemble the stars of movies and TV.
She has filled the screen with characters you could --and probably would--meet if you were a Mexican- American living in Los Angeles.
The plot is not terribly creative--can/will a talented young woman take her scholarship and leave her family to study in New York City?
The good news is that the plot is the only hackneyed aspect of this movie. Characters act in surprising and unsuspected ways, but ways which--in retrospect--could indeed be what that character would do in that situation.
Very little is forced, very little is predictable-- except the outcome of the basic plot--and very little is thrown in because it must be thrown in.
Example--we see Ana writing her personal essay for her admission application to Columbia University. I would have bet $50.00 that we would then see someone (teacher, admissions director, mother, father) reading this essay and saying, "This is remarkable."
What is remarkable is that we never get this scene. Ana writes the essay, she gives the essay to her teacher, and that is the last we ever hear or see of the essay. Hard to believe, but true.
I thought America Ferrera was wonderful as Ana, and the rest of the cast was strong. (OK--the saintly teacher who believes in Ana is a bit much, but that is the writer's fault, not the actor's.)
When you add great music and great street scenes to great acting and great directing, you get a great movie. Not a blockbuster-- but truly a "don't miss" film.
Director Patricia Cardoso is one of the few directors who must have actually looked around at people on the street, and realized that very few of them --if any--resemble the stars of movies and TV.
She has filled the screen with characters you could --and probably would--meet if you were a Mexican- American living in Los Angeles.
The plot is not terribly creative--can/will a talented young woman take her scholarship and leave her family to study in New York City?
The good news is that the plot is the only hackneyed aspect of this movie. Characters act in surprising and unsuspected ways, but ways which--in retrospect--could indeed be what that character would do in that situation.
Very little is forced, very little is predictable-- except the outcome of the basic plot--and very little is thrown in because it must be thrown in.
Example--we see Ana writing her personal essay for her admission application to Columbia University. I would have bet $50.00 that we would then see someone (teacher, admissions director, mother, father) reading this essay and saying, "This is remarkable."
What is remarkable is that we never get this scene. Ana writes the essay, she gives the essay to her teacher, and that is the last we ever hear or see of the essay. Hard to believe, but true.
I thought America Ferrera was wonderful as Ana, and the rest of the cast was strong. (OK--the saintly teacher who believes in Ana is a bit much, but that is the writer's fault, not the actor's.)
When you add great music and great street scenes to great acting and great directing, you get a great movie. Not a blockbuster-- but truly a "don't miss" film.