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| 'Under the Same Moon' not-so-full (C) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Craig Outhier, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 19, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
To be sure, first-time director Patricia Riggen and screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos aren’t trying to drastically alter public opinion about illegal immigration — anymore than, say, “An American Tail” was designed to improve the lot of animated mice. As Carlitos, a south-of-the-border scamp who embarks on a thousand-mile journey to join his undocumented migrant mom (Latin tabloid regular Kate del Castillo) in Los Angeles, child actor Adrian Alonso (“The Mask of Zorro”) is too plucky, too saucer-eyed and ultimately too impervious to cut deeply as a political/polemic device. “My mother says to look to the moon when I miss her,” he tells a confidante, “because it’s the same one she sees.” Aww. And with that line, Carlitos conjures an impenetrable schmaltz force field around himself that the filmmakers only halfheartedly test. Not that they aren’t tempted. Having slipped over the border, Carlitos is briefly taken captive by a junkie and is THIS close to joining the south Texas underage sex trade before a kind passerby miraculously intervenes. With his unerring ability to bring out the best in people, Carlitos has more in common with Haley Joel Osment’s pint-sized messiah in “Pay It Forward” (2000) than the distressed peasant siblings in Gregory Nava’s “El Norte” (1983). No sewer crawling. Light peril only. In lieu of spectacle, the filmmakers put a premium on recognition, filling the margins of the story with the sort of human scenery well known to the first-generation Mexican-American target audience. There’s the crusty but lovable coyote (Maria Rojo) operating under the guise of a legitimate visa business; the rich, white house frau (Jacqueline Voltaire) who cruelly stiffs Carlitos’ mom on her housekeeping bill, as if to write off the pain of her own unfulfilled life; and the American-born, no-habla-español Latina (“Ugly Betty” star America Ferrera, in a bit role) who offers to sneak Carlitos across the border for tuition money. The movie takes an even lighter, if not unpleasant, turn when Carlitos latches onto a gruff itinerant laborer (Mexican heartthrob Eugenio Derbez) and proceeds to chip through his rough, kid-hating veneer. It’s a proven, Chaplinesque comic trope, and Derbez — with his sure timing and wry, roguish humanity — nearly steals the movie from his young co-star. In short, “Under the Same Moon” — in subtitles, save those scenes involving English-speaking characters — is as controversy-proof as any movie about a border-flouting Mexican family could possibly be. (Who else finds that disappointing?) But neither does it thrive as an enduring tale of mother-son devotion, a fact that can be attributed at least partially to the casting of del Castillo (“Trade”) as the mother. With her, ahem, enhanced curves and spin-class physique, she seems like the kind of actress who feels more at home on the set of “Desperate Housewives,” seducing pool boys and the like, not scrubbing floors and pining for her lost “hijo.” MOVIE REVIEW — ‘Under the Same Moon’ Cast: Kate del Castillo, Eugenio Derbez, Adrian Alonso, America Ferrera Behind the scenes: Directed by Patricia Riggen, from a script by Ligiah Villalobos Rated: PG-13 (some mature thematic elements), 109 minutes Grade: C Contact Craig Outhier by email, or phone (480) 898-5683 |
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