Sueno (2005)

The movie was very sweet, but the script was out of the 1930s: Boy comes up from Mexico with music in his soul to make it here in the music world--meets up with obstacles--gets help along he way--falls in love--we get to hear some great music in the process--and, uh oh--he has to decide between fame on his own and what TRULY matters:his love for own music and sticking with his original band. Guess what? He makes the right choice..the band stays together..they win a big contest..he wins the hand of his sweetheart...guitars play in the background/the lead sings..and the movie gently ends.Unfortunately, all this happens as we've seen it happen hundreds of times before. So, even though the actors were good (and oh so earnest), and the music was great--it wasn't new enough for an adult audience to stick with. I think young adults would like it a lot, though--they haven't seen the plot before so the actors and their music would certainly entice them.John Leguizamo deserves a special mention. He stole the movie and was the reason that I watched it until the end--even though the plot was so banal.

John Leguizamo is Antonio, a Mexican, who lost his mother and moves to S. California to follow his dreams. He has an uncle there who he believes owns restaurants, but in reality is only a cook at one. But he is able to get Antonio a job.But Antonio really wants to be an entertainer. He plays guitar, composes songs, and sings (passably, but not well) and somehow hopes for his big break. Then he gets wind of a competition, and he happens upon 3 brothers who play guitar and sing, and they form a group. But they really need a female singer and Antonio recruits neighbor Mirabella (Elizabeth Peña, who really does sing well). But Mirabella is confused, even though she is much older than Antonio, she is flattered by what she thinks is a romantic interest in her.But he is really smitten by young and pretty Nina (Ana Claudia Talancón) who has a sick dad and spends much of her free time with him. So the movie is about Antonio's attempts to fulfill his dreams of entertaining and finding true love. It is a cute movie, with lots of energy in places, but rather bland dialog and the story follows a very predictable path.SPOILERS. When Mirabella realizes that Antonio is really courting Nina, at the same time she also finds out that the band's manager, a very nice Hispanic man, is in love with her. All ends well as the band wins the competition and both men get the women they wanted.

Oh, dear. This movie is unintentionally one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. If it weren't so serious about itself, I'd put it in Christopher Guest territory. But unfortunately, this movie takes itself SO seriously that it can't see how flawed it is, both cinematically and practically. The one scene that had my boyfriend and I rolling on the floor was the band practice with Antonio's first band. One minute the boys backing him up are in their own band, "on the way up." The next thing you know, they've let this Antonio kid come in and take over. In what we must assume is their FIRST practice, sweet, sincere Antonio turns into a complete asshole, actually SHOVING his brand new guitar player because he doesn't like the way the guy plays! Egos fly, it nearly comes to fisticuffs, but the "manager" steps in with a Brady Bunch speech and Antonio and his new guitar player shake and make up. None of this would EVER happen in a band. Never. Unless, of course, the band is comprised of retarded monkeys in heat. Then, it might happen.This is just one of about a million cookie cutter clichés in the movie. Each and every scene in this movie is a "Ye Olde Shoppe" version of reality: of Mexican culture, of young love, of fear and uncertainty, of the desire to put something meaningful into the world, and all the other "human conditions." It's completely unbelievable, and what little charm it might have had is completely destroyed by the extremely limiting script, which tries to tell too many stories without an ounce of continuity or building of relationships. Just like we never get to see Superman actually transform, we never get to see any of these characters develop, or fall in love. They simply state their "suenos" to the camera, step into a phone booth, and emerge transformed. Example: the big contest is three days away. In three days, Antonio finds a band, the band fires him, he finds another band, convinces his reluctant neighbor (a single mom with two kids) to join up, learns some original material, and then shows up at the audition just as they're supposed to go on, and then they get up their and play like they've been together seven years and have just emerged from having a nice quiet beer in the green room. Never happen.A lot of the music was really great, though. But a lot of it was, again, stereotypes of music genres sung by Latinos, seemingly to prove to the world that Mexicans can be hip to rap, garage rock, cock rock, funk, and math rock. The overstating of it through clichés made it feel like a propaganda poster, and slightly offended my boyfriend, a rockabilly band front-man who also happens to be Mexican. He didn't know he had anything to prove.

This film fits under the genre of whimsy. What makes it good is its appeal to the senses through Mexican culture. John Leguizamo excels in the part of Antonio: a struggling musician with an irrepressible spirit. Generally it is a well cast film. The music is good overall: some songs are truly excellent making up for one or two exceptions. Unexpected humor at times makes this an uplifting little romance and the charm of the film overcomes any moments that may seem a bit contrived. Visually it succeeds in capturing Mexican art and culture and explores a gentler, more optimistic side of Mexican culture that has not been brought out in other films. This is an enjoyable film well suited to uplifting a dreary afternoon. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys music or Hispanic culture.