Movielogr

Rating: 5.5 stars

Tags

patio theater 35mm nwcfs Spanish texas

All movies seen on 06/12/2013

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Chicano Love Is Forever (1977)

Directed by Efrain Gutierrez

Drama | Music

Overview

A hard-hitting drama about the pressures facing a young Chicano couple and their struggles to balance work, college and marriage, pitting the husband’s machismo and self-sacrifice against the wife’s desire for agency and companionship.

Length 103 minutes

Actors

Efrain Gutierrez | Tina González | Henry Balderrama | Josefina Faz | Sylvia Garcia

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Once a long lost regional film that was rediscovered and restored by UCLA. Directed by Efraín Gutiérrez, who also stars in the film, it’s as much about the Latino subculture in mid-70s San Antonio as it is about the desperate conditions of this young married seeking better lives. Yet while the story and direction is quite earnest, the movie has an Al Adamson aesthetic in its awkward framing, editing and bad acting. You almost believe most of the lines were improvised and that there was rarely a second take.

Clearly low budget and oddly sewn together you’re never certain where the movie will go next. There’s an inexplicable scene when Marta, the young wife, hilariously trips outside of her home. That leads to a sequence where she convulses violently potentially signaling a miscarriage. However, she’s perfectly fine in the next scene and this moment is never referenced again. Huh?

The inclusion of full music performances by a variety of local Tex-Mex bands is also a bizarre choice that makes me believe that Gutiérrez somehow wanted to showcase these artists then fashioned his story around them. Chicano Love is Forever is not a great movie but it’s definitely unique and worth viewing for its place in 1970s independent, anti-Hollywood filmmaking.

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