PARK CITY-- For many people living in Los Angeles, the Latino culture of Echo Park is so foreign to them that it may as well be another planet. Two white male directors, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, were so taken with the neighborhood where they live that they wanted to change that. The result is "Quinceanera," a loving look at the rituals surrounding a girl's fifteenth birthday. Life-affirming without being saccharine and enormously entertaining, film could be one of those rare specialty pictures that crossover to a mainstream audience.

Film is book-ended by two celebrations symbolizing a young girl's arrival at womanhood, and a lot happens in between. The first Quincenera is for Eileen (Alicia Sixtos), a well-off, popular and pretty Mexican-American girl. It's a joyous occasion, similar to a coming out party or a sweet 16, but with religious as well as secular meaning. Food, dance and family are the main ingredients and things are going splendidly until the arrival of Eileen's black-sheep brother Carlos (Jesse Garcia).

His 213 tattoo on the nape of his neck tells us he's a bad boy, but what has he done to cause his own father to violently throw him out of the party? Turns out he's committed a cardinal sin in this macho Catholic culture--he's gay.

Magdalena (Emily Rios), Eileen's poorer cousin and the daughter of a storefront preacher (Jesus Castanos-Chima), is next up for her celebration and all she can think about is the hummer limo she wants for the big day. But the best laid plans fall apart when she becomes pregnant. But it's not what you think, nor is it quite a miracle.

Seems she engaged in some heavy petting one time with her boyfriend Herman (J.R. Cruz) and the semen leaked on her leg and swam upstream all the way to her fertile eggs. Bizarre but true.

However, her father doesn't want to hear any of it and she runs off to live with her kindly great uncle Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), where the banished Carlos has also found a home. Gonzalez, who made his movie debut in "The Wild Bunch," gives one of the great late-in-life performances that just light up the screen with its warmth and life experience. So this odd trio, living in Tomas' apartment with a large garden, forms an outsider family within the larger extended family.

Although bad things happen--Tomas gets evicted by a gentrifying gay couple, Magdalena's boyfriend moves away--the view of life here is fairly benign. Even Carlos, who is presumably a gang member and a bit of a loose cannon, doesn't seem dangerous. But it doesn't feel as if Glatzer and Westmoreland have sanitized the hood, it's just that they've chosen to focus their attention on positive things.

"Quinceanera" is indeed a neighborhood affair. Many of the actors are local non-professionals who just happen to have a great presence on camera. Rios, making her feature debut, has a wonderful naturalness, and Garcia, who has appeared in a number of national commercials and TV shows, brings a smoldering intensity to his role.

Shot with a HD camera, mostly hand-held, by Eric Steelberg, film has a remarkable vibrancy, as does the infectious traditional and contemporary music supplied by Micko Westmoreland and Victor Bock. "Quinceanera" proves once again that filmmakers can make movies about anything--even things outside their realm of experience--if they do it with respect.

QUINCEANERA
Kitchen Sink Entertainment
Credits:
Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Writers: Glatzer, Westmoreland
Producer: Anne Clements
Executive producers: Todd Haynes, Nicholas T. Boyias, Mihail Koulakis, Avi Raccah
Director of photography: Eric Steelberg
Production designers: Denise Hudson, Jonah Markowitz
Music: Micko, Victor Bock
Costume designers: Jessica Flaherty, Andrew Salazar
Editors: Robin Katz, Clay Zimmerman
Cast:
Magdalena: Emily Rios
Carlos: Jesse Garcia
Tio Tomas: Chalo Gonzalez
Herman: J.R. Cruz
Maria: Araceli Guzman-Rico
Ernesto: Jesus Castanos-Chima
Gray: David W. Ross
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes