This is a strong first feature from Marisol Torres depicting several Latino characters during a summer in Chicago's Humboldt Park. The performances are strong particularly the character of Willy as played by Ramses Jimenez. At times reminiscent of DO THE RIGHT THING, the films flaws at times lay with the director chewing off more than she can chew. Some of the characters are fascinating, such as the leech Latino Real estate agent who hustles his own people out of their neighborhoods, but one wishes that these and other characters like the pot smoking college student who falls for a thug, were more fleshed out. Being from Chicago, I thought the film was visually lacking as well. I wanted to see MORE of Humboldt Park and its awesome parks and boulevards, but the film only opens up visually during the parade sequences. Overall, a promising debut for its directors and talented actors and a TRUE CHICAGO film which understands its neighborhoods, unlike the typical Hollywood crap which uses the city for it's Sears Tower backdrop and shoots the rest in Toronto.
4 Reviews
View only if you enjoy stereotypes
jvliv23 July 2010
If there is a good reason to view this movie is only if you enjoy stereotyping. The movie did an "excellent" job at validating all the stereotypes existent for any one who has lived in that area. Is that good? Not in my book, and it will NEVER compare to Nothing Like the Holidays, which set a separate bar and standard, high, Chicago Boricua set a new LOW. Poor acting, cheap direction, depressing theme, and the already cliché of adding tons of foul language and stereotypes about the Puerto Rican community, not only in Chicago, but ANYWHERE in the U.S.A. You can definitely make a movie without the need of trash language, but it seems that such coarseness in language is a must nowadays. Lack of creativity perhaps? Don't waste a dollar or two on renting this movie, better play lotto with it.
Incredibly Offensive
rosajazl30 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was terrible in pretty much every respect, but the worst part of it was the insulting stereotypes and shallow clichés. On a superficial, surface viewing and understanding of the movie, one would think the movie was about Puerto Ricans finding their identities in a world where they are the minority, but that isn't what I was left with. As a Puerto Rican who grew up in Chicago myself, I know that this movie took the worst of the culture here and turned it into a movie. It leaves the impression that we are all drug-dealing, promiscuous, violent, lying gang-bangers. A look at the characters and their part in the movie shows this.
At first glance, Tata really is the stereotypical Puerto Rican. She dresses suggestively, speaks with an accent, cuts hair, and has souvenirs all over her apartment. Tata desperately wants to be the parade queen, but we find out Tata is actually white...so what does her character have to do with being a Puerto Rican and finding identity? The audience is left in the dark as to why Tata knows how to speak Spanish so well, or how she has that incredible tan, or more importantly, why she is so set on being queen.
German finally has a job his father can be proud of, where he's not hustling on the street or getting into trouble. However, he seems to be the only minority in the company and feels the need to prove himself. His company is trying to convince the residents of the neighborhood to move out. Yes, German has a good job, but he must back-stab the people in his neighborhood, destroying it and people's lives to get to the top.
Willy and Lola have that stereotypical toxic relationship; of course, he's a thug who sells weed and she's a student looking to buy. They become involved with each other, but Lola doesn't want to get tied down and Willy is extremely possessive and jealous. Instead of working things out, everything escalates for the worse. Willy ends up beating a man close to death as a result of his hurt feelings.
I'll be the first to admit that there are probably many Puerto Ricans in the world who live like the characters in the movie do. But instead of the characters grappling with their Puerto Rican identity in an American world, they are overcome by the struggles. The important parts of the culture hardly ever come into play in the movie. The audience is shown an extremely biased side of the spectrum instead of a more balanced shot.
Another reviewer said the film didn't show enough of Chicago in the film, which is something I agree with completely. It really bothered me throughout the film, especially when Chicago is so rich with culture, and not just the Puerto Rican part of it.
The film was a waste of time and I would not recommend it to anyone.
At first glance, Tata really is the stereotypical Puerto Rican. She dresses suggestively, speaks with an accent, cuts hair, and has souvenirs all over her apartment. Tata desperately wants to be the parade queen, but we find out Tata is actually white...so what does her character have to do with being a Puerto Rican and finding identity? The audience is left in the dark as to why Tata knows how to speak Spanish so well, or how she has that incredible tan, or more importantly, why she is so set on being queen.
German finally has a job his father can be proud of, where he's not hustling on the street or getting into trouble. However, he seems to be the only minority in the company and feels the need to prove himself. His company is trying to convince the residents of the neighborhood to move out. Yes, German has a good job, but he must back-stab the people in his neighborhood, destroying it and people's lives to get to the top.
Willy and Lola have that stereotypical toxic relationship; of course, he's a thug who sells weed and she's a student looking to buy. They become involved with each other, but Lola doesn't want to get tied down and Willy is extremely possessive and jealous. Instead of working things out, everything escalates for the worse. Willy ends up beating a man close to death as a result of his hurt feelings.
I'll be the first to admit that there are probably many Puerto Ricans in the world who live like the characters in the movie do. But instead of the characters grappling with their Puerto Rican identity in an American world, they are overcome by the struggles. The important parts of the culture hardly ever come into play in the movie. The audience is shown an extremely biased side of the spectrum instead of a more balanced shot.
Another reviewer said the film didn't show enough of Chicago in the film, which is something I agree with completely. It really bothered me throughout the film, especially when Chicago is so rich with culture, and not just the Puerto Rican part of it.
The film was a waste of time and I would not recommend it to anyone.
An overlooked gem
RandomGuy-215 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is listed as "Boricua" on IMDb, but it is currently in video stores using the title, "Chicago Boricua." I see many, many films, and most of them don't stick with me for very long, but this one has....so take that as a recommendation, I guess. Far more people should see this film than probably will actually end up seeing it.
The focus of this film is identity, specifically the various different flavors of Puerto Rican-American identity. Lola is a middle class college student, who drives into Humboldt Park to buy dope, and ends up dating the dope dealer, a working class young man named Willy. The relationship has many of the problems of relationships between people of different classes, as the two have difficulties dealing with the class-based differences between them. Tata, meanwhile wants to enter a beauty pageant open only to Puerto Rican ladies. The only problem is that Tata has a secret. She is white. She has done her best to take on the Boricua identity and "become" Boricua, but the film never really explains why she did this. This is one of the few flaws of the film. German, meanwhile, is a Puerto Rican man who has taken a job in an all-white real estate office, and he has to make some changes to his personality and identity in order to fit in in this new world and succeed in his new profession. There is a big price to pay here. I'll say no more, because I don't want to spoil too much of the plot.
With the character of German, the film introduces the problem of gentrification in Humboldt Park, which is a problem that is currently occurring there in real life. The biggest problem with the film is with the white characters that work for the real estate office. They are portrayed as one-dimensionally evil and racist. This is a flaw in many minority-centered films that come out in this day and age. Granted, not every film can be like Crash, but minority filmmakers do their films a disservice by painting white characters as all being evil, humorless, and having no soul.
But let's not let that take away from my main point. This is an excellent film. It's certainly better than the majority of big-budget films that get mainstream distribution. Go rent it now!
The focus of this film is identity, specifically the various different flavors of Puerto Rican-American identity. Lola is a middle class college student, who drives into Humboldt Park to buy dope, and ends up dating the dope dealer, a working class young man named Willy. The relationship has many of the problems of relationships between people of different classes, as the two have difficulties dealing with the class-based differences between them. Tata, meanwhile wants to enter a beauty pageant open only to Puerto Rican ladies. The only problem is that Tata has a secret. She is white. She has done her best to take on the Boricua identity and "become" Boricua, but the film never really explains why she did this. This is one of the few flaws of the film. German, meanwhile, is a Puerto Rican man who has taken a job in an all-white real estate office, and he has to make some changes to his personality and identity in order to fit in in this new world and succeed in his new profession. There is a big price to pay here. I'll say no more, because I don't want to spoil too much of the plot.
With the character of German, the film introduces the problem of gentrification in Humboldt Park, which is a problem that is currently occurring there in real life. The biggest problem with the film is with the white characters that work for the real estate office. They are portrayed as one-dimensionally evil and racist. This is a flaw in many minority-centered films that come out in this day and age. Granted, not every film can be like Crash, but minority filmmakers do their films a disservice by painting white characters as all being evil, humorless, and having no soul.
But let's not let that take away from my main point. This is an excellent film. It's certainly better than the majority of big-budget films that get mainstream distribution. Go rent it now!
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