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 Entertainment | March 2008 
Movie Review: Brilliant 'Moon' Eclipses Any Barriers
 BYLINE
| | Adrian Alonso shines as a young Mexican national trying to sneak into the U.S. to find his mother in Under the Same Moon. (Fox Searchlight) | | |
Every Sunday morning at 10, Rosario calls her son, Carlitos, from a pay phone on an East L.A. corner. For his ninth birthday, she has sent her son a pair of sneakers that are finer than the shoes worn by any of the other boys in the Mexican village where he lives with his grandmother.
"Is there anything else you need?" she asks over the phone.
"You," the boy says.
Under the Same Moon is an assured first feature film by documentary maker Patricia Riggen, a road movie with far more at stake than most such stories, a drama dense with plot and emotion but also punctuated with occasional humor.
When Carlitos' grandmother dies in her sleep, the love-hungry child sets out on a precarious journey to find his "Mami" in another country hundreds of miles away. He faces all the dangers an adult trying to cross the border illegally faces - physical peril, near misses with immigration police - plus the added dangers faced by a child traveling alone.
Although the illegal-immigration subject matter - not to mention the English subtitles - means the movie will be marketed toward Hispanic moviegoers, this combination drama/suspense story will pull at the hearts of mothers of any skin shade.
For many viewers, America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) will be the most familiar face in Under the Same Moon, but her role as an inexperienced "coyote" is small and not particularly noteworthy. Of far more importance is the appearance of Eugenio Derbez, Mexico's leading comic actor, playing illegal immigrant Enrique, who reluctantly - extremely reluctantly - take Carlitos under his wing. Moviegoers familiar with his work will discover that Derbez is as adept at drama as he is at comedy. Kate del Castillo, a Spanish-speaking actress who is known for her lead roles in a series of telenovelas, plays Rosario as a soft but earnest woman longing to take the higher path but not quite sure which path that is.
But it's young Adrian Alonso (the son in The Legend of Zorro) to whom this movie belongs. As the determined Carlitos, Alonso cycles through emotions ranging from cheerful confidence to abject despair, believing that both of his parents have deliberately abandoned him. The young actor is a presence on-screen, but he never overplays his role or goes for cute. Alonso may be a child, but there's nothing childish about his performance.
Under the Same Moon is an old-fashioned movie - and that's a compliment. There's not a whiff of sophisticated cynicism about it. It's simply about good storytelling.
Under the Same Moon
**** 4 of 5 stars
Director: Patricia Riggen
Stars: Adrian Alonso, Kate del Castillo, America Ferrera
Length: 109 min.
Rated: PG-13 (some mature thematic elements) |
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