East Side Story (2006)

East Side Love Story is about Diego Campos and his quest to get out of East L.A. and become a chef in his own restaurant. Along the way he finds that sometimes to get away from home, you just need to stay where you are.First off, the good parts. I liked the acting and the set design. The restaurant in particular reminded me of some of the places I grew up eating in. To me, that's a bonus.The acting, while heavy handed at times, didn't seem devoid of heart. René Alvarado (Diego) seemed to finally find his voice near the end of the movie. The rest of the cast were fun, if stereotypical, parts. Pablo, the closeted boyfriend. Wesley, the new neighbor with a problem. Bianca, the crazy aunt (or sister, depending on the writer). The understanding and wise maternal figure, Sara. All played to the fullest and farthest the actor could go.The bad parts: The acting, while good, was deeply uneven. Most of the actors tended to "sell to the cheap seats" instead of going for smaller actions. The writing was manic and led to uneven pacing. The whole back and forth between two characters, while building drama, was kind of tedious.The cinematography. Again, while not terrible, shots seemed to go for more group shots than anything else. Reactions were off camera. In particular a scene between Diego and Westley left all of Diego's dialog being delivered while the back of his head was to camera.The worst offence is the lighting. Maybe it was the copy I watched, but I couldn't see what the hell was going on some of the time. It honest to god looked like it was being lit by a flashlight ... with a dying battery.All in all though, I would watch it again. Though, not without a glass of wine first.

Ah, to remember the past. Sure, I realize East Side Story came out (on DVD) in 2007, and probably made way before that, but it was surely stuck in the early 1990s. The themes: coming out, closeted individuals, family acceptance of homosexuality, stereotypes and racism is sooo 1992. And you know what? It was refreshing.It was a nice and warm reminder to days past. And this low-budget, independent gay-themed movie was actually well made (filmed) and held enough interest to watch to the end. Sure, it had a familiar plot, enormously stereotypical characters and predictable outcomes, but, strangely, enjoyable.The movie begins with two closeted characters, Diego (enormously hot, but unfortunately straight, Rene Alvarado) and confused real estate agent, Pablo (David Beron) roll-playing sexual encounters. It's obviously doomed, and Diego has to learn to live on his own.His parents passed on and he lives and works with his grandmother at an apparently authentic Mexican food restaurant in a very depressing, racist and homophobic neighborhood. Diego wants out and over to Phoenix. (Side Note: I wished he had at least visited the Valley of the Sun, as I am currently living there. So few films are shown here.) He meets the new neighbors and it's predictable that he falls for attached Wesley (Steve Callahan.) It takes awhile, but you know what's coming.The movie is hard to watch, for some of the racist jokes/statements and throws you a curveball for being a "light romantic comedy" and then shows scenes of explicit sexual encounters or nudity (just backsides and bare chests,) even though the movie begins with a dark-shot blow-job, most of the movie could've been shown edited on LOGO.A friend had been recommending East Side Story to me for a long while, so I finally got around to seeing it. I'm glad I did. It's not groundbreaking, but had some decent acting (though I never truly believed Diego was an educated chef, despite them "telling" us he was,) very funny dialogue (at times,) good eye-candy and a touching throwback to the early 1990s gay-themed film-making. It's harmless fun, if you can understand where the characters are coming from and know soap operas aren't necessarily reserved for heterosexuals.

My partner & I saw "East Side Story" at NYC's NewFest in June 2006. The movie is a well constructed take-off on the Italian-Puerto Rican ethnic conflict in the musical "West Side Story". Instead of the historical focus on those two ethnic groups in NYC, ESS dramatizes the current fault line between middle class Latino residents in LA's Echo Park neighborhood and well-off gays & lesbians who are buying up their homes, gentrifying their area, and threatening to displace them. The specific characters and basic storyline are believable and the movie entertains you throughout the movie.Of the 15 or so films we screened at that NYC LGBT festival last year & this month, "East Side Story" was by far our favorite (We also liked "Forgiving the Franklins", "Coffee Date", "Outing Riley" and "Bubble", a gripping but HEAVY film by the Israeli director of "Yossi & Jagger".).Question: does anyone have an idea of when / if "East Side Story" will appear in (art) theaters OR be released on DVD? We'd really like to see it again and, if possible, purchase a copy.If not, I'll contact the NewFest organizers to see if they can answer this question.

Diego (Rene Alvaredo) is almost 30, living in east LA with his grandmother (Irene DeBari), helps run a family restaurant, has no friends and has an unhappy relationship with a VERY closeted real estate agent (David Beron). Diego also is in the closet but wants to come out. Then a gay couple move next door--and Diego falls for one of them (Steve Callahan).This is extremely light and a little lacking in plot--but how many movies to we see about a gay Latino man falling in love and struggling to come out? It's well-directed, moves very quick and has a very good attractive cast. Alvaredo and Callahan are (to put in mildly) very handsome with nice bodies...but they also can act. Also DeBari is excellent as Diego's grandmother--her and Alvaredo play off each other perfectly. Also Gladys Jimenez (as Bianca Campos--an aunt) comes roaring out full force. She has the funniest lines ("A four way is not an orgy!") and plays them full tilt. I also have to admit more than a few moments had my audience choking up--Diego's wanting to come out is sometimes painful to watch and DeBari's total acceptance of him is very moving.My only complaints are the plot is kind of sketchy, the ending is way too unbelievable (this one pushes for a happy one) and the two main villains in this (Pablo and Wesley's lover Jonathan) are so vicious it gets uncomfortable. And we're supposed to believe a hot young guy like Diego has NO friends??? Still this is fun, light and also includes some very passionate guy on guy kissing. Recommended.