"WOMEN IS LOSERS" // BENTONVILLE 2021 FILM FESTIVAL
NOTE: This review was originally posted on 3/17/21 as part of the 2021 SXSW Film Festival Coverage. It's reposted here as part of the 2021 Bentonville Film Festival Coverage.
WOMEN IS LOSERS, the exciting new film from Lissette Feliciano, is set between the 1960's and 1970's and the lead up to the "Roe vs. Wade" ruling. It tells the tale of a strong woman defying the odds in a culture that's pitted against her. It also sets up with a fourth wall breaking opening, something that it continues throughout the film. We start in 1972 when several characters break the fourth wall and point out things to the audience. Such things as how many films focusing on this period of time would focus on a stereotype character, most likely white, and not a hardworking POC such as Celina (Lorenza Izzo), who leads this film. It also lets the audience know that, due to budget limitations, the filmmakers could not "dress the street" in a period-appropriate way. Both of these fourth wall busting moments bring a freshness immediately to the film, setting up a different kind of storytelling. One that can comment in real time as you watch the film. And many characters do, often looking at the camera in response or breaking a moment to comment on what's happening. None of these moments take away the power of the scene, but instead amplify the moment, showcasing a meta-world that we're fully invited to explore.
We then backtrack to to 1967, following Celina and her best friend Marty (Chrissie Fit). They are both Latin women with bigger dreams than their small minded town and high school want to allow them to have. Celina's home life is quite challenging as well, with a too proud, drunk and abusive father named Juan (Steven Bauer) and her mother Carolina (Alejandra Miranda) who she loves dearly but is silenced by her father. Both Celina and Marty seem to be following the same path, both falling for soldiers. Celina's soldier boy is Mateo (Bryan Craig), who we first met in the flash forward opening, and Marty's is Carlos (Shalim Ortiz). At Mateo's welcome home party, a scene that could be straight out of a musical erupts, with the party dancing away to Tito Puente and sizzling up the screen. It's a jubilant scene, an early highlight showcasing the joy trying to break through the times. There's also a lot of old-fashioned and out of date discussions on how "men" and "women" should act towards each other, complete with some fourth wall breaking moments to comment on it. Soon we find out that Marty and Celina become pregnant and their plans for an illegal abortion ends in disaster.
We continue to follow Celina as an unmarried Latina woman with a child as she sets out to create a better life for herself. She ends up making ends meet by working two jobs, one at a bank where her hard works gets her promoted, and in the views of her boss Gilbert (Simu Liu), who's trajectory as a character is complicated, to say the least. She first butts heads and then befriends a supervisor Minerva (Liza Weil) and begins to fight for her own American Dream, and we stand by and cheer her on. Feliciano's film hits all the right buttons and tells a powerful Latin story without swimming in stereotypes. Lorenza Izzo is wonderful as Celina, carefully handling the drama, humor and heartbreaking moments with ease. Her performance is a delicate and forceful at the same time, a powerful reminder that Latin characters are not, and should not, be portrayed as stereotypes. The power in the performance is the films biggest strength. The rest of the ensemble cast all turn in strong turns, even those who you don't sympathize with fully flesh out their complicated character arcs. The American Dream is inside people like Celina, and it's about damn time we tell those stories.
Chaired by Academy Award® winner Geena Davis, the Bentonville Film Festival is a one-of-a-kind annual event that champions inclusion in all forms of media. BFF is a year-long platform with the BFFoundation, culminating with a six-day festival, in collaboration with the founding sponsor, Walmart, and presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola. The Bentonville Film Festival is held annually in Bentonville, Arkansas and the surrounding region of Northwest Arkansas.
GRADE: A-
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Lissette Feliciano STARRING Lorenza Izzo, Bryan Craig, Chrissie Fit, Liza Weil, Simu Liu, Steven Bauer, Alejandra Miranda, Cranston Johnson, Alessandra Torresani, Lincoln Bonilla. SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2021 BENTONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: WOMEN IS LOSERS