LAFF 2013: MY SISTER'S QUINCEANERA

Silas (Silas Garcia) in My Sister's Quinceanera.

Slow summer days

By Miranda Inganni

Set in a small town in Iowa, writer-director-producer Aaron Douglas Johnston's My Sister’s Quinceaneradetails the daily life of one Mexican-American family. Johnston uses the real-life Garcia family (non-professional actors) in this film that mixes fiction with reality.

Big brother Silas (Silas Garcia) is the de facto man of the house, but dreams of escaping the dreary life of his home town. Helping his single mom, Becky (Becky Garcia), with the cooking and care of his younger siblings, Silas is a considerate and compassionate older brother. The film focuses on his especially close relationship with younger sister, Samantha (Samantha Rae Garcia), as the whole family prepares for his sister Elizabeth’s (Elizabeth Agapito) big birthday.

While the movie is a work of fiction, the casting of the family makes it feel almost like a documentary told in a narrative format. Some could argue that the movie is a soft-spoken meditation, simply taking a glance at the Garcias as they go about their lives. But nothing really happens in the film. Silas wants to leave town and go to college, but one senses that this will never happen, and he and his buddy (Tanner McCulley) seem way too old to get into the teenage-like mischief they do around town. Samantha, while young and silly, is exceptionally bratty toward her older sister, who in turn, like many a moody teen, is completely self-absorbed.

Boring and trite, this is vulgar naturalism. Who cares for or about any of these people? They are not interesting enough to warrant our attention. Moreover, I would imagine that My Sister’s Quinceanera might make a lot of kids believe they should have movies made about them, too. It is not enough to just turn on cameras and record the banal.

As my "teachy" said, "Of course the director and writer is also the producer. You could not sell this script to somebody else."


My Sister's Quinceaneara screens at the Los Angeles Film Festival, June 18, 7:50 p.m., Regal Cinemas. For more information: MSQ at LAFF 2013.