Jennifer Lopez Movie:

Gabriela Reviews:
A painful mark on Mexican-American culture...
2007-06-23 - I would completely agree with anyone that would argue that Latino films need to become a bigger cultural asset. There are not enough Hollywood mainstream films being made that best depicts a Latino/Mexican/Spanish lifestyle. I would go to the theater to see a film that brought this undiscovered light to the cinematic surface. Alas, I don't like it when I get fooled by a film trying to be innovative, creative, and socially conscious at the same time, yet cannot complete a full sentence to save their lives. This is how I felt after I watched, and re-watched with audio commentary, the very underground film directed by Vincent Jay Miller entitled "Gabriela". A love story, intermingled with racial tensions, coupled with a bad marriage, horrible acting, and a plot that overall means nothing to the typical viewer. Am I being harsh? For a film like "Gabriela", I don't think the word "harsh" could be in the vocabulary.

"Gabriela" is about as independent as you can get - all the way down to the cameo appearance of Zach Galligan of "Gremlins" fame, you know the sort - the grainy filming, the obvious lack of budget, the partial nudity - all classic low-budget independent film tags which teeter between the actual "B" movie and that of value. "Gabriela" had no value. The jokes were pungent, the ending was skewed horribly, and the character reasoning seemed to be biased in hopes to only find a solution to the ending. This was a film driven by the ending, nothing more - nothing less. I hate to bash this film because the director did try to create something new in a recycled Hollywood, but he failed. I cannot put it any better. The direction was incredibly loose with characters constantly changing their initial personas, again, only to obtain the ending that Miller desired. The acting was atrocious, with obviously nobody caring about emotion, character traits, or reasoning. For example, Mike's best friend at the institution where they obviously have a job (though no work was ever witnessed on screen) was placed only in this film for "comic relief" and to demonstrate the juxtaposition of Mike's uncommon womanizing lifestyle. Mike's best friend, Douglas, was sadly NOT funny nor did he attribute anything of value to the film. Doug, played by Troy Winbrush, fell into the bad stereotypes role that could probably define the entire "Gabriela" film. I should have seen that by the horrid opening montage, but it took the entire film for me to see the light.

I must admit, the essence of this film that I hated the most was the fact that it was trying to bring a new style of "love story" to the big screen, but horribly fell prey to the cliché moments so eerily started in such films like "Traffic" - does Mexico have to be grainy every time we American's lay our eyes on it? "Gabriela" didn't just play to this stereotypes, but also fed it with a three-course meal. The entire scene with the Mexican police robbing the American by-standard was painful to not only watch, but to see disgrace just plow across my face. I thought this was at least a poor film with a message, but there wasn't even a message at the end. Cheat on your husband, find a better love, fool your naive family - all messages that we should associate with a culture that is already diminished and insulted in modern cinema. It just soured this experience.

Jamie Gomez and Seidy Lopez had no chemistry together. Outside of the few moments of passion that they shared (with an incredibly unfunny scene featuring Jamie's brother listening in), it was stale and forced most of the time. Their relationship wasn't built on anything, and I was about to vomit when he tried to sing along in a native tongue that was obviously acting like he didn't know the language, but actually did. It's hard to say, but with independent film, a director (even the actor) has the chances to take risks. That is what being revolutionary is all about, breaking the mold - but with "Gabriela" that didn't happen. I felt like this was your a-typical Hollywood film, with standard clichés that actually hurt the stereotypes further. The humor was pathetic, not even borderline funny, while the acting was coming straight from the can, instead of fresh from the vine. I got goosebumps each time we were introduced to the "crazy artist" of a brother and his "problem" with painting all the time. Or how about the time that our supposed hero's credit card arrives and he spends the day maxing it out. What is that teaching our youth or portraying on Latino culture? Was this film bad? Yep - this film was actually painful.

Overall, I cannot suggest this film to anyone. While I will stand behind the independent film nearly 99% of the time, this one fails to make the cut. Why? It doesn't try at all. It is painful on the eyes, it is shameful on the ears, and with Zach Galligan one continued to hope that at least one Gremlin would pop into frame, but alas, that would have been too "cutting edge" for even the likes of these producers. Avoid at all costs!

Grade ½ out of *****

Brilliant Indie - Gets better with each viewing
2005-07-24 - I had liked Gabriela when I first saw it in a movie theater: the movie was warm and heartfelt and featured a star-making performance by Jaime Gomez who was then one of the stars of Nash Bridges.

I saw the movie again on video and was blown away anew by the spirit of this movie and by the perfomances of the all-star supporting cast. The attention to detail was amazing and not only was the film very well constructed and well-paced, but it had many amazingly true moments.

It's an unfortunately too rare movie these days when callousness passes for quality.

Don't miss it! It's a movie of very high quality and honesty, a mile away from the boring current studio fare and the uninteresting by-the-number indie fare.

An original!

A horrible film!!!
2004-04-22 - The glowing reviews for this film are absolutely ridiculous. As a low-budget filmmaker myself, I appreciate what Gabriela is trying to do, but I wish the filmmakers had taken some more time and tried harder. Perhaps tried to raise a few more dollars to give the film some sort of quality.The film is slow moving and bland, but the characters realistic, which is a plus. There is really nothing to recommend it though, the story has been used countless times before to a much better effect, both in Hollywood and independent films. It is utterly predictable, with no surprises along the way. NONE.

Seidy Lopez, who played Gabriela, was absolutely horrid. Her voice was too low and annoying, and half of what she said was hard to understand. She seemed to phone in her performance with a flat voice and the same expression no matter what was going on. Jaime Gomez, however, was good as her love interest. Haven't seen much of his other work, but I am now interested. Lupe Ontiveros (Real Women Have Curves) was wasted as the grandmother. Putting her name third in the credits is unjust and misleading. She has five minutes screentime. And why aren't there any English subtitles for the Spanish language scenes? It is unfair for anyone who doesn't speak Spanish and does not understand what is being said. That aspect of the film is what made me mad more than anything.

Also, I know this is a low budget film, but the sound quality was horrible. I had to keep rewinding to understand what was being said, and I still couldn't! The actors speak in unnaturally low voices. Combine that with bad sound equipment and half the film is inaudible. Also, what's with the love scenes? Whoever heard of anyone making love in their underwear? Doesn't make sense to me.

I believe the rating for this movie has been rigged on both Amazon.com and IMDB.com. It's not a coincidence that all the glowing reviews sound exactly alike, are written only a few days apart, and there is no information on its authors. I believe that is pathetic on the part of the filmmakers to get viewers. They know they have a loser here and are trying to milk it for what it's worth by posting fake 'glowing' reviews. That's ridiculous. The icing on the cupcake of a stupid idea executed very badly, by people who obviously have no idea what they're doing. Sorry.

Even for independent film lovers like myself, this film was a terrible waste of time. I almost didn't finish it. I can't recommend it to anyone. Stay away, you have been warned.

Brilliant Love Story
2003-09-15 - Completely on the opposite side of the drab and often poorly written indie films focusing on unrealistic characters, "Gabriela" offers real people in involving circumstances. I wish there were more independent films like this, it would bring me back to the theater.

Worst movie I've ever seen
2003-06-14 - I'm really surprised by the positive reviews here. This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The plot was simplistic and bland, the characters uninteresting and flat, and the script was poorly written. Every scene with the female lead in it was shot with a glowing, warm filter that made the film look like a really tacky greeting card. There was a scene early on in which the male lead got a new credit card in the mail and decided to go spend money on expensive stereo equipment, including purchasing some for his friend simply because he had this "free money." The movie never came back to this or critiqued this extremely stupid view of money and credit. I know this sounds like a petty critique, but if you see the movie, you'll see why it seems so absurd. Later in the film we are meant to be pleased with the same character's intelligence with money, because he hides his cash when he goes to Mexico so it won't be stolen by crooked cops.

The DVD was very poor quality: there are a lot of moment when it "freezes" and moves choppily because of low digital quality; I expect this in low budget films of course, but when the movie's bad I get impatient. And while there were Spanish subtitles available for the English text of the film, there were no English subtitles for the parts in Spanish. This seemed a really foolish decision on the part of the filmmakers, because it means that the climactic scene between Gabriela and her mother is incomprehensible. Was this intentional? I can't imagine why.

If you're interested in seeing a movie about the clash of Mexican-American culture and white-bread American values, this film is not worth your money--instead, check out "Real Women Have Curves," an honest, well-written, truly enjoyable exploration of similar themes.