Treintañera (Short Film)

As young adults trying to make our way through the world, two major factors gain focus in our lives: our careers and our romantic relationships. Some become really lucky and are able to fulfill one or both right away, but many have to wait.

As we grow older, however, we may start to question these factors: Am I truly happy where I am? Did I make the right decision? Which one is more important right now?

This last question is one that the protagonist of the comedic character based short Treintañera, struggles with as we follow her through one awkward situation after another.

Valentina, a Latina photographer, laments her unsuccessful love life. Fearing that her granddaughter is cursed for not having a Quinceañera party on her 15th birthday, Valentina's abuela decides to surprise her with one for her 30th, so she can find a man. On the same day, however, Valentina receives her dream job offer of working for National Geographic. Afraid to let her abuela down, she decides to keep quiet, only for things to quickly get messy.

Written, co-produced and starring Tamara Bunker, Treintañera is a very upbeat and charming film, having the unique combination of feeling like a romantic comedy, but also a little like a slice-of-life story as well. Valentina does get into some quirky silly over the top situations like in a romantic comedy, but at the same time, her personal struggles are real and relatable, with some insight about her Latin American culture and heritage, which is really refreshing.

The cast is easily the best part of the film with Bunker leading the way as Valentina, having great comedic energy and wonderful chemistry with Tina D'Marco, who plays Valentina's abuela, producing some hilarious one-liners, as well as having a cute relationship with Nick Cimiluca as Valentina's prospective love interest, Tom.

Like the film's tone, Bunker's performance naturally swings between the over the top exasperation at the embarrassing situations she's pulled into and the worn down but warm and slightly sarcastic demeanor in the more serious moments, resulting in a character very much of the real world pulled into unusual but not unrealistic circumstances. This balance is heightened into her chemistry with  Tina D'Marco's Abuela character, feeling like an old comedy duo in the more humorous situations but also having a very real and warm familial support in the more serious scenes, showing the kind of relationship they've had over many years. Her chemistry is also heightened with Nick Cimiluca's Tom as his character also has the same sort of everyday likability, taking Valentina's warmth and dry sarcastic wit and returning it to her for some nice banter.

Miss Bunker recently expressed her desire to turn Treintañera into a feature, a decision I am wholly looking forward to. I am curious to see how she will explore this material and these characters further, and how things will play out.

As a character driven short, Treintañera really really works with strong characters and acting work, great chemistry a warm heart, and hilarious comedy. Bunker and the rest of the cast and crew's talent and skill definitely shines through and shows them as filmmakers to keep an eye out for. I definitely will and look forward to their future work.

Definitely see it if you can!

Hidden Figures

The Biopic genre is a fun and interesting one to watch because I'm getting to learn about a person, group, or piece of history that I didn't know about before. So many different stories, voices and viewpoints to hear from. Even better, it encourages me to find out more about them.

Despite certain changes for dramatic purposes, when done well, the strong stories and the amazing real life characters are still there to experience. As a result, there are so many great biopics to choose from: Apollo 13, Remember the Titans, Lawrence of Arabia, Rush, The King's Speech, etc.

Its safe to say that Hidden Figures, about several African American NASA employees and their crucial efforts that helped get John Glenn into orbit and eventually men on the moon, is a worthy addition to this list.

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae as mathematicians Katherine Johnson,  Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, the film covers their rise from members of the "West Area Computers" group at Langley Research Center to their respective roles that made history: Jackson joining the all white, male Flight Research Division, Vaughan becoming the supervisor of the group in charge of working with the new IBM supercomputers, and Jackson becoming a flight engineer, and all the obstacles that they had to overcome. and how they used scientific knowledge and education to do so, an aspect that I really loved.

There's an old fashioned feel to the film, both in visual style and theme. Its the kind of film that one might be shown in class during school: a film that views history through more innocent eyes. Something like To Kill A Mockingbird or Remember the Titans. While the film does not have the bite of those films or show the more brutal elements of that era like Selma or the non-fiction The Help, it still holds the same kind of emotional impact as those films because it fully fleshes out those women as characters, both in personality and intelligence and shows the difficulties and tense atmosphere both in work and out of work that they had to deal with,

One such aspect, Johnson having to cross campus every day just to use the colored bathrooms is played for laughs, but at the same time, is built up for a very satisfying and emotionally cringe worthy payoff, when she emotionally explodes when criticized for always being away from her desk.

It shies away from the violence, but comes in full force with the emotion.

The film is also well cast, each actor giving good energy and finesse, but also warmth and humor to their characters, especially Glen Powell as a confident, friendly John Glenn. It was also great to see actors that I haven't seen in a while like Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst again and they do a great job as always.

Fault wise, the issues I had with Hidden Figures are rather moderate but still strong enough that the film would be even stronger if they were fixed. The first fault being that while we do spend a lot of time getting to know these characters very well, both at work and at home, it felt like there was too much of them at home at times and not quite enough times at work, but the times at work were strong and satisfying enough, that I'm glad to overlook it. The second fault is with the character of Paul Stafford, the Flight Research Division's second in command, as played by The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, it doesn't feel like there's enough personality or purpose to the character other than to be given orders and to be an obstacle for Johnson, which is disappointing because since he's a co-worker  of the Johnson character, his dynamic with her could be a lot more antagonistic, or dynamic, or funny in a really engaging, memorable way and it would add more to his emotional arc as well.

The third fault I had was that while Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson have a good balance to each of their arcs, it feels like Jackson's arc ends a little bit early and as a result, she does not get a visual satisfying payoff of herself working as an engineer at the end, like it shows Johnson in the Flight Research Division and Vaughan working with the supercomputers, and I found that a bit distracting and a little emotionally unsatisfying.

The fourth and final fault is rather minor and more of a nitpick, but some of the editing in the opening shots felt a bit wonky or weirdly paced as well, which threw me off for a second, but lI was able to quickly overlook it.

Overall, despite these faults, Hidden Figures is still a great historical biopic, upbeat and well made. I hope it is eventually shown in schools and many families see it with their kids because I bet it will definitely inspire kids to become interested in science and education as well as following their dreams/reaching a goal that seems out of reach.

I definitely say see it!

4.5 Stars out of 5.

22 Years (Short Film)

Its no surprise the amount of emotional baggage divorce can bring a child: strained relationships, changed lifestyles, moments of self doubt and wondering who was to blame. In time, most are able to overcome these problems and go on to live full enriching lives as adults. But sometimes, these feelings are brought back to the surface.

This is the focus of 22 Years, a wonderful character based short film, directed by Fred Thomas Jr. and produced, conceived, and starring Dawn Noel as Avi Moreno, a young, independent woman on the rise, who is thrown for a loop when her estranged father, who she has not seen since her parents' divorce decades earlier, wants to meet.

Noel commands the screen, subtle and nuanced in her performance. Through simple facial expression and strong naturalistic dialogue, we are slowly drawn in and learn so much about her as we follow her along her journey of deciding whether or not she wants to have this meeting. In exploring Avi's life, we also see her relationships with friends, family, and co-workers, played by a rich supporting cast of actors like Kearran Giovanni, Luis Jose Lopez, and Roberto Sanchez.

The film is enriched even further by its technical side as director Thomas Jr. works with cinematographer Sean McDaniel and composer Mike McKnight to create bright colorful visuals and soft atmospheric music, that, when mixed together, become almost characters of their own.

Everything and everyone work together in such an organic and natural way to tell this slice of life story that if feels like could almost be a documentary as well. Nothing feels forced, false or needless added. Its simple, old fashioned filmmaking with new themes and new voices, something I haven't seen in a long time and was very happy to see again.

To see such skill and professionalism done on such a small budget, $5000, is inspiring and a sure sign that Dawn Noel, Fred Thomas Jr., and the rest of the team are filmmakers to keep an eye out for. I definitely will and look forward to their future work.

Definitely see it if you can!

4.8 stars out of 5.