Mi Vida Loca (1994)

I'm a newcomer to USA, having been here for less than 2 years. But I live in LA and not too far from where Echo Park is. My first exposure to the gangs was through Los Angeles Times; but later when I started tutoring a kid, I started learning lots of things about the gang culture. (No, the kid does not belong to any gang. To make sure that he won't, his parents enrolled him in Taek Won Do, Tennis and many other such things). For example, earlier I never knew that seemingly innocent graffiti on the walls signify gang territory, or that a bandanna of a certain color, or even a pair of Nike shoes of a certain make implies on'es affiliation to a particular gang. Similarly, a shoe hanging from a telephone wire conveys a message...and that as a kid, this kid was offered gang membership in his school from some of his classmates.I watched Mi Vida Loca with interest because of such background information I have. And to me, as an outsider, the movie seems to depict reality. Now, though my opinion in this matter perhaps does not make much difference, testimonials/reviews from people, who were themselves involved with gangs earlier, make me feel that this movie does indeed depict reality of the mean streets.It's obvious that some of he actors are not professionals, but who cares! In addition to the main actors, Bertila Damas (Rachel)'s face is so dignified, and she carries herself with so much grace that one almost forgets that she's depicting an ex gang-banger.Similarly, Nelida Lopez (Whisper) looks really so fresh and innocent that she instantly wins hearts.In my opinion, irrespective of what critics say about the movie,the kind of emotions this movie seems to have generated from the ex gang-members (read their reviews here) proves that this movie has succeeded in doing what it perhaps intended to do: to open people's eyes towards the harsh reality of gang life. And I think, that alone proves the worth of this movie.

"Mi Vida Loca" is a documentary-like approach to examining the lives of Hispanic girls in Echo Park. The film is never over-dramatized. The dialogue is authentic, and never stylized, and so are the performances. The story never takes the predictable Hollywood route. However, it still could've used more structure. At first I thought the film's focus was on the character of Sad Girl. About 15-20 minutes through, the focus changes to another character and the same pattern occurs throughout the film. So I didn't feel as connected to the film as I expected. If the characters and situations were unrealistic, I would be totally disengaged, but that wasn't the case and as a result, I was still entertained and moved. Almost all the scenes take place in apartments, sidewalks and parks, so it's obvious that the film was made on a low-budget, but that small budget was put to good use and I give Allison Anders much credit. My score: 7 (out of 10)

I liked how the movie was filmed is about it. They are telling you what happened in real life is liked teenagers go through that stuff but the good thing is that I liked the girls take care about their children and they never let their children with other people liked if they weren't anything. If I know that an other women is with my boyfriend I never go out with him or sleep with him also I think that that's truth about people they still used drugs and sale drugs so they could have money and take care of themselves. But that's life can do anything else have to do what you have to do.

I'm a High school student in Chicago. The movie was okay, but it was nothing I would have spent my money on to go see.It was about gangs. There was a lot of violence in this movie.The main characters in this movie were Mona, Mousie, and Ernesto. Mona and Mousie were best friends they grew up together. Things fell apart when they both start sleeping with the same boy,Ernesto. They found out about each other, and their friendship fell apart. They wanted to kill each other. Ernesto got killed. This movie was nothing new I see this almost everyday gangs, killings, girls having babies by the same boy and always fighting.