Real Women Have Curves (2002)
Country: US
Technical: col 86m
Director: Patricia Cardoso
Cast: America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros, Ingrid Oliu
Synopsis:
In a Los Angeles Hispanic community the daughter of a family of seamstresses finishes high school but is hindered from attending college and expected to feel ashamed of her weight. She overturns both conservative restraints on her self-expression.
Review:
Using a cast of unknowns this film manages to be honestly ethnic in a way My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which it sort of resembles) did not. It does not wear its hispanicity on its sleeve like a badge of honour or exploit it as a vehicle for comedy; rather it is woven in and out of the texture as a constant reminder of another culture adapting to fit into the American host culture. In one telling moment a callously waspish contractor reveals by resorting to her mother tongue that she too overcame her roots the hard way and is not about to make it any easier for her successors. She's certainly learnt the lesson of US capitalism, one feels. There are many humourous and felicitous moments in the movie, and it strikes a blow for overweight women without appearing condescending (cannily its spokeswoman is a teenager struggling to be taken seriously for what she thinks and feels rather than how she looks).
Country: US
Technical: col 86m
Director: Patricia Cardoso
Cast: America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros, Ingrid Oliu
Synopsis:
In a Los Angeles Hispanic community the daughter of a family of seamstresses finishes high school but is hindered from attending college and expected to feel ashamed of her weight. She overturns both conservative restraints on her self-expression.
Review:
Using a cast of unknowns this film manages to be honestly ethnic in a way My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which it sort of resembles) did not. It does not wear its hispanicity on its sleeve like a badge of honour or exploit it as a vehicle for comedy; rather it is woven in and out of the texture as a constant reminder of another culture adapting to fit into the American host culture. In one telling moment a callously waspish contractor reveals by resorting to her mother tongue that she too overcame her roots the hard way and is not about to make it any easier for her successors. She's certainly learnt the lesson of US capitalism, one feels. There are many humourous and felicitous moments in the movie, and it strikes a blow for overweight women without appearing condescending (cannily its spokeswoman is a teenager struggling to be taken seriously for what she thinks and feels rather than how she looks).
Country: US
Technical: col 86m
Director: Patricia Cardoso
Cast: America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros, Ingrid Oliu
Synopsis:
In a Los Angeles Hispanic community the daughter of a family of seamstresses finishes high school but is hindered from attending college and expected to feel ashamed of her weight. She overturns both conservative restraints on her self-expression.
Review:
Using a cast of unknowns this film manages to be honestly ethnic in a way My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which it sort of resembles) did not. It does not wear its hispanicity on its sleeve like a badge of honour or exploit it as a vehicle for comedy; rather it is woven in and out of the texture as a constant reminder of another culture adapting to fit into the American host culture. In one telling moment a callously waspish contractor reveals by resorting to her mother tongue that she too overcame her roots the hard way and is not about to make it any easier for her successors. She's certainly learnt the lesson of US capitalism, one feels. There are many humourous and felicitous moments in the movie, and it strikes a blow for overweight women without appearing condescending (cannily its spokeswoman is a teenager struggling to be taken seriously for what she thinks and feels rather than how she looks).