La Mission

2009 "Growing up in the Mission district of San Francisco, Che Rivera has always had to be tough to survive."
7| 1h57m| R| en
Details

Growing up in the Mission district of San Francisco, Che Rivera has always had to be tough to survive. He's a powerful man respected throughout the Mission barrio for his masculinity and his strength, as well as for his hobby building beautiful lowrider cars. A reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic, Che has worked hard to redeem his life and do right by his pride and joy: his only son, Jes, whom he has raised on his own after the death of his wife. Che's path to redemption is tested, however, when he discovers Jes is gay. To survive his neighborhood, Che has always lived with his fists. To survive as a complete man, he'll have to embrace a side of himself he's never shown.

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Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
vchimpanzee Che has lived in the same apartment in San Francisco's Mission District for 26 years. He has done time but has a garage and restores classic cars, and he drives a bus. He has a teenage son Jes, but we never learn about Jes' mother.Che is a great guy with a pleasant personality most of the time, and everyone likes him--except Lena, who doesn't want him to work on cars on the sidewalk (did he not have the garage yet?) and just generally seems hard to please. During what free time he has, Che plays pickup basketball with the guys, and he drives one of the many great-looking classic cars in his "low rider" group. He is also restoring a '64 Chevy for Jes as a graduation present.Jes has a boyfriend Jordan and they go to a loud gay club together. They have a number of photos taken, which Jes leaves lying around. He shouldn't have, because he hasn't told his father. And as cool as Che is, his reaction to his son being gay is not exactly what you would expect. Jes is also bullied by a guy at school who also sees him in the 'hood, and this guy has problems with Che as well.During the rest of the movie, Che and Jes have to work to resolve their differences. Something does happen that we hope would make everything work out, but it's just not that simple. Meanwhile, Che and Lena started out hating each other, so what do you think will happen with them? Well, not quite what you'd think. Nothing is simple in this movie.This movie is a quality portrayal of life in a Latino neighborhood, but it is more than that. These people are not merely Mexican. At least some of them, including the bully, are Aztec, and we see the colorful costumes and the dancing of the Aztec culture. We see beautiful art on buildings, and even on that '64 Chevy. Who knew a 60-year-old car could look so good?Benjamin Bratt gives a remarkable performance with many dimensions. He is not merely this great guy everyone likes. He can be just plain nasty and he can get depressed and withdraw from the world. But overall his is a positive image of Latino culture, because he is genuinely trying to be a good guy.Another good performance comes from a guy whose name I don't remember. He is a good friend of Che, and he and his wife had a disabled child. This is important in helping Che overcome his prejudices, if indeed he ever does.And Erika Alexander is worth mentioning as Lena. Jeremy Ray Valdez also does a good job as Jes.While the movie can be quite serious and controversial, with different types of bigotry, it also has some laughs. One of Che's friends (who is African-American) is able to say "chili chatter" without offending when complaining the others speak Spanish around him when they're in HIS country; they should speak English.There is some violence and I could tell the language had to be cleaned up a LOT for TV. Amazingly, someone decided the rating should be TV-PG-V. No L, though there are a few words left.One of the most meaningful parts of the movie is a scene with the low-riders. A new person in the group appears to be warmly welcomed by the neighborhood people. They don't say a word. They just look at the newcomer in a friendly way. Judging from the credits, I would say these are real people from the neighborhood.It's worth seeing, just in general but also as a Latino-themed movie that is different.
thesar-2 I get it: I don't live in or around San Francisco and I know it's only stereotyped as the "Gayest Town on the Planet," but it was hard for me to find homophobia this deep in the glorified afterschool special, La Mission.I'm sure it exists as I'm sure there are Gambler Anonymous meetings near Las Vegas Blvd, and perhaps it would've been even more cliché to set this movie about a father coming to terms with his son's homosexuality in Laramie, WY. For me, that was as tough a pill to swallow as tough-guy Che (Bratt) displayed.Okay, so we have Che & son, Jesse, (Valdez) who live in the Mission district of San Francisco. They like slow moving cars and enjoy sobriety. Well, Jesse's tastes are changing, literally. From the disinterest in cars, to the newly discovered beer and most importantly: men. Ex-con and macho-man-of-the-year daddy won't have any of that.Might I mention that part of his phobia stems from his devote Catholic and Hispanic heritage? Probably more from the religious side, because some of the other Hispanic neighbors don't seem to care as much.Throw in the ever smart and tree-hugging Lena (Erika Alexander) as the neighbor of reason and affection from Che, some hate crimes and a back-drop of Alcoholics Anonymous brings you to a practically harmless afterschool special. Heck, they even had the obligatory hospital scene.It's much too long to hold too many people's interest and Che's anger barely calms throughout, in fact it grows more and more until the finale. I almost expected a "To Be Continued" to show up because it was taking far too long to get to the inevitable "acceptance" message.And that, his anger, though integral to the story line, was a bit harsh to consume. Barely a consequence was shown, hardly a realization to be had. I'm sure this type of extreme rebellion exists, but I think the kid, Jesse, who could've been anyone's kid as he showed zero resemblance inside or out to Che, should've left the scene long before due to the mad man he calls Dad.Despite the soundtrack I hated terribly, the movie's beautifully shot and the acting's surprisingly above par. That said, I'd recommend other coming-of-terms films as this brings little to the table in originality or surprises.
qtwiq I grew up in the Mission, lived there 27 years of my life. This movie is dead on. Down to the way people are and who knows who to survive. The artwork on the streets is real and inspiring. The Apartments are so true to the rent controlled units I lived in on Mission and Valencia.I miss my low rider vato Juan. High school was like nothing else and this movie brought it all back.Ben Bratt - I think I am in love.Why oh Why did I move to TX. I need to go home to SF.I miss it all the food, culture, weather and life style. Everyone can be who they are and it is alright in the end.
K EK Caught this flick with a choice of almost any seat. Weird because the theater is known for showing real life, low budget, "art" and eclectic films so I expected it to be well attended at the 2:10 showing. Someone judged that the religious elements in the movie were a distraction. I don't get the same read. They seemed to fit in culturally quite well. In fact I judge there was an intent to show a paradox between passion for worship / faith reverence and passionate violence. The central theme is the breakdown between single parent father and gay son. It left room for some play around other compelling life issues. If you are shy about the subject of gay men, go see Oceans. Two hours is too long for this movie (requisite love scene was useless), but the length did not detract from the story. The ending ... go see the movie.